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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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ENGLISH TEANSLATION 



OP THE 



FIRST SIX BOOKS 



OP 



YEEGIL'S AEl^TEID 



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NEW YORK: 
A. LOVELL & COMPANY. 



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COPYEIGHT, 1894, 

By a. LOYELL & CO. 



Typography by E. B. SHELDON & CO., New Haven, Ct. 



A BRIEF SKETCH 

OF THE 

LIFE OF VERGIL 



PuBLius Vergilius Maro was born during the consulship 
of Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus, in the 
village of Andes, about three miles from the city of Mantua, 
in the year of Rome 684, and seventy years before the birth 
of Christ. 

His parents were in humble circumstances, his father 
cultivating a small farm for the maintenance of his family. 

He passed the first seven years of his life under the 
paternal roof. After this we find him at Cremona, a town 
on the river Po, not far from Mantua. In this pleasant 
retreat he passed ten years, during which he distinguished 
himself in the studies suited to his age and gave presage of 
his future eminence. 

From Cremona he removed to Mediolanum, and soon 
afterwards to Naples. Here he devoted himself to the 
study of the Greek language, soon becoming its master. 
Thus he was able to read the Greek poets in the original, to 
enter thoroughly into their spirit, and to discover their 
beauties and excellences. 

He also studied the Epicurean philosophy. 

Having finished his studies at Naples, it is said that he 
visited Rome; but it is more likely that he returned to 
Mantua, and spent his time in retirement on his paternal 
inheritance. It was here that he acquired that practical 
information which so eminently qualified him to write the 
Georgics. 

The fame of Vergil's extensive attainments and especially 



A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE 

of his poetic genius, reached the ears of Pollio, a man no 
less distinguished for his love of literature and of the muse, 
than for his military achievements. It was in Mantua and 
through either Varus or Gallus, that Vergil became ac- 
quainted with Pollio. 

After the battle of Philippi, the lands in the neighborhood 
of Mantua (Vergil's included) were divided by Augustus 
among his veteran troops. Pollio becoming acquainted 
with the facts, recommended Vergil to Maecenas, then at 
Rome, and enjoying the highest place of honor and confi- 
dence with his prince. Vergil found a friend in Msecenas 
also. Through the latter's iniiuence with Augustus, Ver- 
gil's estate was restored to him. But returning with the 
emperor's edict for the restoration of his farm, he was so 
resisted and ill-treated by its new possessor, that Vergil 
was obliged to swim over the river Mincius to save his life. 

Though he went a second time to Rome about the matter, 
it is probable he never afterwards resided upon his estate, 
but made the seat of the empire the place of his residence. 
Here the most distinguished men sought his acquaintance 
and friendship, and he became the favorite of Augustus also. 

It was at the suggestion of Pollio that Vergil commenced 
to write his Eclogues. This occupied him three years. 
The Eclogues were exceedingly popular. Vergil, in fact, 
may be considered the first who introduced pastorals 
among the Romans. Though much indebted to Theocritus, 
he followed him with judgment, and, in correctness of 
taste, purity of thought, and delicacy of expression, so 
improved upon him that we lose sight of the original. 

Agriculture had been much neglected during the civil 
wars : and, on this account the distress had become so gen- 
eral, that serious apprehensions were entertained for the 
peace of Italy. In this state of affairs, Maecenas desired 
Vergil to write a treatise upon agriculture. To this end, 
Vergil retired from Rome to Naples, and in this pleasant 
retreat he composed the Georgics— a poem, the most per- 
fect and finished of any composition in the Latin language. 



LIFE OF VERGIL. 

The Georgics were everywhere well received and Italy soon 
assumed a flourishing appearance. 

The Georgics completed, Vergil soon after began to write 
the Aeneid. 

The subject of the Aeneid is the removal of a colony of 
Trojans from Asia Minor under the leadership of Aeneas 
and their settlement in Italy. 

Whatever Vergil has written is founded upon historical 
truth ; and the voyage and adventures of his hero are given 
with geographical precision. He has also furnished a full 
and perfect account of the religious rites and ceremonies of 
the age. 

Seven years were spent in composing the first six books 
of the Aeneid, and in four years afterwards the remaining 
six books were finished. 

It was Vergil's intention to revise the Aeneid before its 
publication ; and, to this end, he visited the classic soil of 
Greece. 

But shortly after his arrival, he was obliged to relinquish 
it in consequence of the delicate state of his health. Au- 
gustus, at this time, returning from Asia, Vergil very prop- 
erly accompanied him. At Megara, he became so seriously 
indisposed, that fears were entertained of his recovery. 
Hastening to Italy, but continuing to decline, he expired, a 
few days after his arrival at Brundusium, on the 226. of 
September, at the age of nearly fifty-one years. 

Vergil, in his will, directed the Aeneid to be burned, as 
being imperfect and unfinished. But this was counter- 
manded by Augustus and the manuscript was put into the 
hands of Varus, Tucca, and Plotius, with directions to ex- 
punge whatever they deemed improper, but to make no 
additions, themselves. 

Vergil has been truly styled the prince of Latin poets ; 
and though he was much indebted to Homer, who may be 
rightly considered the master, the pupil possessed the 
happy faculty ol making everything that passed through 
his hands, his own. 



BOOK FIRST. 

SYNOPSIS. 

THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE. 

The subject of this book and the cause of Juno's resent- 
ment being premised, it opens seven years after the em- 
barkation of Aeneas. 

He, having reached the Tuscan Sea and being in sight of 
Italy, Juno, to avenge herself on the Trojans, prevails on 
Aeolus to let loose his winds, thereby causing a violent 
tempest and dispersing the Trojan fleet. One ship is sunk 
and several others are driven upon the shore. Neptune 
calms the tumult of the waves, rebukes the winds and 
assists in floating the ships. 

Aeneas then sails in a southerly direction and arrives on 
the coast of Africa. Yenus having complained to Jupiter 
of the manner of treatment of her son, he sends Mercury 
to procure for him a kind reception among the Carthagin- 
ians. Venus in the form and attire of a virgin huntress, 
appears to Aeneas (who is accompanied by Achates), in- 
forms him as to the country, its inhabitants, and their 
manners and customs. After giving him a brief account 
of Dido and the settlement of the country, veiled in a cloud 
she conducts him to the city, where, passing through the 
crowd unseen, he goes to the temple. Here he finds his 
companions, who, he thought, were lost. Here too he sees 
Dido (with whose majesty and grace he is struck), who, 
through a device of Yenus, conceives a passion for him, 
which, in the end, proves her ruin. 



THE 

AENEID 

OP 

P. VERGILIUS MARO. 



BOOK I. 



Arms I sing, and the hero, who first, exiled by fate, came 
from the coast of Troy to Italy, and the Lavinian shore : 
much was he tossed both on sea and land, by the power of 
those above, on account of the unrelenting rage of cruel 
Juno : much too he suffered in war till he founded a city, 
and brought his gods into Latium : from whence the Latin 
progeny, the Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome. 

Declare to me, O Muse ! the causes, in what the deity 
being offended, by what the queen of heaven was provoked 
to drive a man of distinguished piety to struggle with so 
many calamities, to encounter so many hardships. Is there 
such resentment in heavenly minds ? 

An ancient city there was, Carthage, (inhabited by a col- 
ony of Tyrians), fronting Italy and the mouth of the Tiber, 
far remote ; vast in riches, and extremely hardy in warlike 
exercises ; which (city) Juno is said to have honored more 
than any other place of her residence, Samos being set 
aside. Here lay her arms ; here was her chariot ; here the 
goddess even then designs and fondly hopes to establish a 
seat of universal empire, would only the Fates permit. 
But she had heard of a race to be descended from Trojan 
blood, that was one day to overturn the Tyrian towers: 
that hence a people of extensive regal sway, and proud in 
war, would come to the destruction of Libya : so the des- 
tinies ordained. 



10 VERGIl/S AENEID, BOOK 1. 

Tliis the daughter of Saturn dreading, and mindful of 
the old war which she had the principal hand in car- 
rying on before Troy, in behalf of her beloved Argos; 
nor as yet were the causes of her rage and keen re- 
sentment worn out of her mind; the judgment of Paris 
dwells deeply rooted in her soul, the affront offered to her 
neglected beautj', the detested (Trojan) race, and the honors 
conferred on ravished Ganymede : she, by these things fired, 
having tossed on the whole ocean the Trojans, whom the 
Greeks and merciless Achilles had left, drove them far from 
Latium ; and thus, for many years, they, driven by fate, 
roamed round eyery sea : so vast a work it was to found 
the Roman state. 

Scarcely had the Trojans, losing sight of Sicily, with joy 
launched out into the deep, and were ploughing the foam- 
ing billows with their bra^zen prows, when Juno, harboring 
everlasting rancor in her breast, thus with herself : Shall I 
then, bafiied, desist from my purpose, nor have it in my' 
power to turn away the Trojan king from Italy ? because I 
am restrained by fate ! AVas Pallas able to burn the Gre- 
cian ships, and bury themselves in the ocean, for the 
offense of one, and the frenzy of Ajax, Oileus' son ? She 
herself, hurling from the clouds Jove's rapid fire, both 
scattered their ships, and upturned the sea with the winds : 
him too she snatched away in a whirlwind, breathing 
flames from his transfixed breast, and dashed him against 
the pointed rock. But I, who move majestic, the queen of 
heaven, both sister and wife of Jove, must maintain a 
series of wars with one single race for so many years. 
And who will henceforth adore Juno's divinity, or humbly 
offer sacrifice on her altars ? 

The goddess by herself revolving such thoughts in her 
inflamed breast, repairs to Aeolia, the native land of storms, 
regions pregnant with boisterous winds. Here, in a vast 
cave, king Aeolus controls with imperial swaj^ the reluc- 
tant winds and sounding tempests, and conflnes them with 
chains in prison. They roar indignant round their barriers, 
filling the mountain with loud murmurs. Aeolus is seated 
on a lofty throne, wielding a scepter, and assuages their 
fury, and moderates their rage. For, unless he did so, 
they, in their rapid career, would bear away sea and earth, 
and the deep heaven, 



Vergil's aekeid, book i. 11 

and sweej) them through the air. But the almighty 
Sire, guarding against this, hath pent them in gloomy 
caves, and thrown over them the ponderous weight of 
mountains, and appointed them a king, who, by fixed 
laws, and at command, knows both to curb them, and 
when to relax their reins; w^hom Juno then in suppliant 
words thus addressed: Aeolus (for the sire of gods and 
the king of men hath given thee power both to smooth the 
waves, and raise them with the wind), a race by me de- 
tested sails the Tuscan Sea, transporting Ilium and its con- 
quered Penates into Italy. Strike force into thy winds, 
overset and sink the ships ; or drive them different ways, 
and strew the ocean with carcasses. I have twice seven 
lovely nymphs, of w^hom, Deiopeia, who is the fairest in 
form, I will join to thee in firm wedlock, and assign to be 
thine own forever, that with thee she may spend all her 
years for this service, and make thee father of a beautiful 
offspring. 

To whom Aeolus replies : 'Tis thy task, O queen, to con- 
sider what you would have done : on me it is incumbent to 
execute your commands. Thou procurest for me whatever 
of power I have, my scepter, and Jove. You grant me to 
sit at the tables of the gods, and you make me lord of 
storms and tempests. 

Thus having said, whirling the point of his spear, he 
struck the hollow mountain's side: and the winds, as in a 
formed battalion, rush forth at every vent, and scour over 
the lands in a hurricane. They press upon the ocean, and 
at once, east, and south, and stormy south-west, plow up 
the whole deep from its low^est bottom, and roll vast billows 
to the shores. The cries of the seamen succeed, and the 
cracking of the cordage. In an instant clouds snatch the 
heavens and day from the eyes of the Trojans : sable night 
sits brooding on the sea, thunder roars from pole to pole, 
the sky glares with repeated flashes, and all nature 
threatens them with immediate death. Forthwith Aeneas' 
limbs are relaxed with cold shuddering fear. He groans, 
and, spreading out both his hands to heaven, thus expostu- 
lates : O thrice and four times happy they, 



12 VERGIL'S AEl^-EID, BOOK I. 

who had the good fortune to die before their parent's eyes, 
under the high ramparts of Troy ! O thou, the bravest of the 
Grecian race, great Tydeus' son, why Avas I not destined to 
fall on the Trojan plains, and pour out this soul by thy right 
hand ? where stern Hector lies prostrate by the sword of 
Achilles ; where mighty Sarpedon [lies] ; where Simois rolls 
along so many shields, and helmets, and bodies of heroes 
snatched away beneath its waters. 

While uttering such words a tempest, roaring from the 
north, strikes across the sail, and heaves the billows to 
the stars. The oars are shattered: then the prow turns 
away, and exposes the side to the waves. A steep moun- 
tain of waters follows in a heap. These hang on the tower- 
ing surge; to those the wide-yawning deep discloses the 
earth between two waves: the whirling tide rages with 
[mingled] sand. Three other ships the south wind hurry- 
ing away, throws on hidden rocks ; rocks in the midst of 
the ocean, which the Italians call Altars, a vast ridge 
rising to the surface of the sea,- Three from the deep the 
east wind drives on shoals and flats, a piteous spectacle ! 
and dashing on the shelves, it incloses them with mounds 
of sand. Before the eyes of Aeneas himself, a mighty 
billow, falling from the height, dashes against the stern of 
one which bore the Lycian crew, and faithful Orontes: 
the pilot is tossed out and rolled headlong, prone [into the 
waves] ; but her the driving surge thrice whirls around in 
the same place, and the rapid eddy swallows up in the 
deep. Then floating here and there on the vast abyss, are 
seen men, their arms and planks, and the Trojan wealth 
among the waves. Now the storm overpowered the stout 
vessel of Ilioneus, now that of brave Achates, and that in 
which Abas sailed, and that in which old Alethes : all, at 
their loosened and disjointed sides, receive the hostile 
stream, and gap with chinks. 

Meanwhile Neptune perceived that the sea was in great 
uproar and confusion, a storm sent forth, and the depths 
overturned from their lowest channels. He, in violent 
commotion, and looking forth from the deep, reared his 
serene countenance above the waves; sees Aeneas's fleet 
scattered over the ocean, the Trojans oppressed with the 
waves and the ruin from above. Nor were Juno s wiles 
and hate unknown to her brother. 



VERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK I. 13 

He calls to him the east and west winds ; then thus addresses 
them: And do you thus presume upon your birth? dare you, 
winds ! without my sovereign leave, to embroil heaven and 
earth, and raise such mountains ? Whom I — But first it is 
right to assuage the tumultuous waves. A chastisement of 
another nature from me awaits your next offense. Fly a- 
pace, and bear this message to your king : That not to him 
the empire of the sea, and the awful trident, but to me by 
lot are given : his dominions are the mighty rocks, your 
proper mansions, Eurus: in that palace let king Aeolus 
proudly boast, and reign in the close prison of the 
winds. 

So he speaks, and, more swiftly than his speech, smooths 
the swelling seas, disperses the collected clouds, and brings 
back the day. With him Cymothoe, and Triton with 
exerted might, heave the ships from the pointed rock. He 
himself raised them with his trident ; lays open the vast 
sandbanks, and calms the sea: and in his light chariot 
glides along the surface of the waves. And as when a 
sedition has perchance arisen among a mighty multitude, 
and the minds of the ignoble vulgar rage : now firebrands, 
now stones fly ; fury supplies them with arms : if then, by 
chance, they espy a man revered in piety and worth, they 
are hushed, and stand with ears erect; he, by eloquence, 
rules their passions, and calms their breasts. Thus all the 
raging tumult of the ocean subsides, as soon as the sire, 
surveying the seas, and wafted through the open sky, 
guides his steeds, and flying, gives the reins to his easy 
chariot. 

The weary Trojans direct their course toward the nearest 
shores, and make the coast of Libya. In a long recess, a 
station lies ; an island forms it into a harbor by its jutting 
sides, against which every wave from the ocean is broken, 
and divides itself into receding curves. On either side vast 
cliffs, and two twin-like rocks, tower in a threatening 
manner towards the sky ; under whose summit the waters 
all around are calm and still. Above is a sylvan scene 
with waving woods, and a dark grove with awful shade 
hangs over. Under the opposite front a cave is of pendant 
rocks, 



14 Vergil's aeneid, book i. 

within which are fresh springs, and seats of living stone, 
the abode of nymphs. Here neither cables hold, nor an- 
chors with crooked fluke moor the weather-beaten ships. 
To this retreat Aeneas brings seven ships, collected from 
all his fleet ; and the Trojans, longing much for land, dis- 
embarking, enjoy the wished-for shore, and stretch their 
brine-drenched limbs upon the beach. Then first Achates 
struck spark from a flint, received the fire in leaves, 
round it applied dry combustible matter, and instantly blew 
up a flame from the fuel. Then, spent with toil and hun- 
ger, they produce their gi-ain, damaged by the sea-water, 
and the instruments of Ceres ; and prepare to dry over the 
fire, and to grind with stones, their rescued corn. 

Meanwhile Aeneas climbs a rock, and takes a prospect of 
the wide ocean all around, if, by any means, he can descry 
any [man like] Antheus tossed by the wind, and the 
Phrygian galleys, or Capj^s, or the arms of Caicus, on the 
lofty deck. He sees no ship in view, but three stags stray- 
ing on the shore; these the whole herd follow, and are 
feeding through the valley in a long-extended train. Here 
he stopped short, and snatching his bow and swift arrows 
(weapons which the faithful Achates bore), first prostrates 
the leaders, bearing their heads high with branching 
horns; next the vulgar throng; and disperses the whole 
herd, driving them with darts through the leafy woods. 
Nor desists he, till conqueror he stretches seven huge deer 
on the ground, and equals their number with his ships. 
Hence he returns to the port, and shares them among all 
his companions. Then the hero divides the wine which 
the good Acestes had stowed in casks on the Sicilian 
shore, and given them at parting, and with these words 
cheers their saddened hearts : 

O companions, who have sustained severer ills than 
these (for we are not strangers to former days of adver- 
sitj^), to these, too, God will grant a termination. You 
have approached both Scylla's fury, and those deep roaring- 
rocks ; and you are not unacquainted with the dens of the 
Cyclops : resume then your courage, and dismiss your de- 
sponding fears; perhaps hereafter it shall delight you to 



Vergil's aekeid, book i. 15 

remember these sufferings. Through various mischances, 
through so many perilous adventures, we steer to Latium, 
where the Fates give us the prospect of peaceful settle- 
ments. There Troy's kingdom is allowed once more to 
rise. Persevere and reserve yourselves for prosperous 
days. So he says in words; and though oppressed with 
heavy cares, he wears the looks of hope, and buries deep 
anguish in his breast. 

They address themselves to the spoil and future feast; 
tear the skin from the ribs, and lay the flesh bare. Some 
cut into parts, and fix on spits the quivering limbs ; others 
place the brazen caldrons on the shore, and prepare the 
fires. Then they repair their strength with food, and, 
stretched along the grass, regale themselves with old wine 
and fat venison. After hunger was taken away by ban- 
quets, and the viands removed, in long discourse they 
inquire after their lost companions, in suspense between 
hope and fear, whether to believe them yet alive, or that 
they have finished their destiny, and no longer hear when 
called. Above the rest, the pious Aeneas, within himself, 
bemoans now the loss of the active Orontes, now of 
Amycus, and then the cruel fate of Lycus, with valiant 
Gyas, and valiant Cloanthus. 

And now there was an end [of discourse] ; when Jove, 
looking down from the lofty sky upon the sail-flown sea, 
and the lands lying at rest, with the shores and the nations 
dispersed abroad; thus stood on the pinnacle of heaven, 
and fixed his eyes on Libya's realms. To him, revolving 
such cares in his mind, Venus, sadder than was her wont, 
her bright eyes bedimmed with tears addresses herself: 
O thou, who with eternal sway rulest, and with thy 
thunder overawest, the affairs of both gods and men, what 
so high offense against thee could my Aeneas or the Trojans 
be guilty of, that, after having suffered so many deaths, 
they must be shut out from all the world on account of 
Italy? Surely you promised, that in some future age, 
after circling years, the Romans should descend from 
them, powerful leaders spring from the blood of Teucer 
restored, who should rule the sea, the nations with abso- 
lute sway. Father! why is thy purpose changed? I, 



16 VERGIL^S AEN-EID, BOOK I. 

indeed, was solacing myself with this promise under 
Troy's fall and sad ruin, with fates balancing contrary 
fates. Now the same fortune still pursues them, after they 
have been driven with such variety of woes. Great king, 
what end to their labors dost thou give? Antenor, escaped 
from amidst the Greeks, could with safety penetrate the 
Illyrian gulf, and the inmost realms of Liburnia, and over- 
pass the springs of Timavus; whence, through nine 
mouths, with loud echoing from the mountain, it bursts 
away a sea impetuous, and sweeps the fields with a roar- 
ing deluge. Yet there he built the city of Padua, estab- 
lished a Trojan settlement, gave the nation a name, and 
set up the arms of Troy. Now in calm peace composed he 
rests: we, thy own progeny, whom thou by thy nod 
ordainest the throne of heaven (oh woe unutterable!), 
having lost our ships, are betrayed, driven hither and 
thither far from the Italian coast, to gratify the malice of 
one. Are these the honors of piety ? is it thus thou 
replacest us on the throne? 

The sire of gods and men, smiling upon her with that 
aspect wherewith he clears the tempestuous sky, gently 
kissed his daughter's lips; then thus replies: Cytherea, 
cease from fear : immovable to thee remain the fates of thy 
people. Thou shalt see the city and promised walls of 
Lavinium, and shalt raise magnanimous Aeneas aloft to the 
stars of heaven ; nor is my purpose changed.- , In Italy he 
(for I will tell thee, since this care lies gnawing at thy 
heart, and tracing further back, I will reveal the secrets of 
fate) shall wage a mighty war, crush a stubborn nation, 
and establish laws and cities to his people, till the third 
summer shall see him reigning in Latium, and three winters 
pass after he has subdued the Rutulians. But the boy 
Ascanius, who has now the surname of liilijS (Ilus he was, 
while the empire of Ilium flourished), shall measure with 
his reign full thirty great circles of revolving months, 
transfer the seat of his empire from Lavinium, and 
strongly fortify Alba Longa. Here again, for full three 
hundred years, the scepter shall be swayed by Hector's 
line, until Ilia, a royal priestess, impregnated by Mars, 
shall bear two infants at a birth. Then Romulus, exulting 
2 



Vergil's aeneid, book i. 17 

in the tawny hide of the wolf his nurse, shall take upon him 
the rule of the nation, build a city sacred to Mars, and from 
his own name call the people Romans. To them I fix 
neither limits nor duration of empire; dominion have I 
given them without end. And even sullen Juno, who now, 
through jealous fear, creates endless disturbance to sea, 
and earth, and heaven, shall change her counsels for the 
better, and join with me in befriending the Eomans, lords 
of the world, and the nation of the gown. Such is my 
pleasure. An age shall come, after a course of years, when 
the house of Assaracus shall bring under subjection Phthia 
and renowned Mycenae, and reign over vanquished Argos. 
A Trojan shall be born of illustrious race, Caesar, who shall 
bound his empire by the ocean, his fame by the stars, 
Julius his name, from great liilus derived. Him, loaded 
with the spoils of the East, you shall receive to heaven at 
length, having seen an end of all your cares : he too shall 
be invoked by vows and prayers. Then, wars having 
ceased, fierce nations shall soften into peace. Hoary Faith, 
Vesta and Quirinus, with his brother Remus, shall ad- 
minister justice. The dreadful gates of war shall be shut 
with close bolts of iron. Within impious Fury, sitting on 
horrid arms, and his hands bound behind him with a 
hundred brazen chains, in hideous rage shall gnash his 
bloody jaws. 

He said, and from on high sent down Maia's son, that the 
coasts of Libya and the new towers of Carthage might be 
open hospitably to receive the Trojans ; lest Dido, ignorant 
of heaven's decree, should shut them out from her ports. 
He, by the oarage of his wings, flies through the expanded 
sky, and speedily alighted on the coasts of Libya. And 
now he puts his orders in execution; and, at the will of 
the god, the Carthaginians lay aside the fierceness of 
their hearts: the queen especially, entertains thoughts 
of peace, and a benevolent disposition toward the Trojans. 

But pious Aeneas, by night revolving many things, re- 
solved as soon as cheerful day arose, to set out, and to recon- 
noitre the unknown country, on what coasts he was driven 
by the wind; who are the inhabitant;^ whether men or 
wild beasts (for he sees nothing but uncultivated grounds), 
and inform his friends of his discoveries. Within a wind- 



18 VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK I. 

ing grove, under a hollow rock, he secretly disposed his 
fleet, fenced round with trees and gloomy shades : himself 
marches forth, attended by Achates alone, brandishing in 
his hand two javelins of broad-pointed steel. To whom, 
in the midst of a wood, his mother presents herself, wear- 
ing the mien and attire of a virgin, and the arms of a 
Spartan maid; or resembling Thracian Harpalyce, when 
she tires her steeds, and in her course outflies the swift 
Hebrus : for, huntress-like, she had hung from her shoulders 
a light bow, and suffered her hair to wanton in the wind; 
bare to the knee, with her flowing robes gathered in a 
knot. Then first. Pray, youths, she says, inform me if by 
chance ye have seen any of my sisters wandering this way, 
equipped with a quiver, and the skin of a spotted lynx, or 
with full cry urging the chase of a foaming boar. 

Thus Venus, and thus Venus' son replied : Of your sisters 
not one has been heard or seen by me. O virgin, by what 
name shall I address thee? for thou wearest not the looks 
of a mortal, nor sounds thy voice human. O thou a god- 
dess surely ! Ai-e you the sister of Phoebus, or one of the 
race of the nymphs? O! be propitious, and whoever you 
are, ease our anxious minds, and inform us under what 
climate, on what region of the globe, we at length are 
thrown. We wander strangers both to the country and 
the inhabitants, driven upon this coast bj^ furious 
winds and swelling seas. So shall many a victim fall a 
sacrifice at thine altars by our right hand. 

Then Venus : I, indeed, deem not myself worthy of such 
honor. It is the custom for the Tyrian virgins to wear a 
quiver, and bind the leg thus high with a purple buskin. 
You see the kingdom of Carthage, a Tyrian people, and 
Agenor's city. But the country is that of Libya, a race invin- 
cible in war. The kingdom is ruled by Dido, who fled hither 
from Tyre, to shun her brother's hate; tedious is the 
relation of her wrongs, and intricate the circumstances; 
but I shall trace the principal heads. Her husband 
was Sichaeus, the richest of the Phoenicians in land, 
and passionately beloved by his unhappy spouse. Her 
father had given her to him in her virgin bloom, and 
joined her in wedlock with the first connubial rites: but 
her brother Pygmahon then possessed the throne of Tyre ; 



Vergil's aeneu), book i. 10 

atrociously wicked beyond all mortals. Between them 
hatred arose. He, impious, and blinded with the love of 
gold, having taken Sichcsus by surprise, secretly assassi- 
nates him before the altar, regardless of his sister's great 
affection. Long he kept the deed concealed, and wicked, 
forging many lies, amused the heart-sick, loving [queen] 
with vain hope. But the ghost of her unburied husband 
appeared to her in a dream, lifting up his visage amazingly 
pale and ghastly : he opened to her view the bloody altars, 
and his breast transfixed with the sword and detected all 
the hidden villainy of the house , then exhorts her to hasten 
flight, and quit her native country ; and, to aid her flight, 
reveals treasures ancient in the earth, an unknown mass 
of gold and silver. Dido, roused by this awful messenger, 
provided friends, and prepared to flee. They assemble, who 
either had mortal hatred or violent dread of the tyrant; 
what ships by chance are ready, they seize in haste, and 
load with gold. The wealth of the covetous Pygmalion is 
conveyed over sea. A woman is guide of the exploit. 
Thither they came, where now you will see the stately 
walls and rising towers of a new-built Carthage, and 
bought as much ground as they could cover with a bull's 
hide, called Byrsa, in commemoration of the deed. But 
[say] now, who are you? or from what coasts you came, or 
whither are you bending your way? To these her demands, 
the hero, with heavy sighs, and slowly raising his words 
from the bottom of his breast [thus replies], 

If I, O goddess! tracing from their flrst source, shall p)ur- 
sue, and you have leisure to hear, the annals of our woes, 
the evening star will first shut heaven's gates upon the expir- 
ing day. Driven over a length of sea from ancient Troy (if 
th6 name of Troy hath by chance reached your ears), a tem- 
pest, by its wonted chance, threw us on this Libyan coast. 
I am pious Aeneas, renowned by fame above the skies, who 
carry with me in my fleet the Penates snatched away from 
the enemy. I seek my country Italy ; and my descendants 
sprang from Jove supreme. With twice ten ships I em- 
barked on the Phrygian Sea, having folloAved the destinies 
vouchsafed me, my goddess-mother pointing out the way ; 
seven, with much ado, are saved, torn and shattered by 
waves and wind. 



20 VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK I. 

Myself, a stranger, poor and destitute, wander through the 
deserts of Africa, banished from Europe and from Asia. 
Venus, unable to bear his further complaints, thus inter- 
rupted in the midst of his grief: 

Whoever you may be, I trust you live not unbefriended 
by the powers of heaven, who have arrived at a Tyrian 
cit}^ But do you forthwith bend your course directly to 
the palace of the queen ; for, that your friends are returned, 
and your ships saved, and by a turn of the north wind 
wafted into a secure harbor, I pronounce to thee with 
assurance, unless my parents, fond of a lying art, have in 
vain taught me divination. See those twelve swans exult- 
ing in a body, whom the bird of Jove having glided from 
the ethereal region, was chasing through the open air: 
now, in a long train, they seem either to choose their 
ground, or to hover over the place they have already 
chosen. As they, returning, sportive clap their rustling 
wings, wheel about the heavens in a troop, and raise their 
melodious notes; just so your ships and youthful crew, 
either are possessed of the harbor, or are entering the port 
with full sail. Proceed, then, and pursue your way where 
this path directs. 

She said, and turning away, shone radiant with her rosy 
neck, and from her head ambrosial locks breathed divine 
fragrance : her robe hung flowing to the ground, and by her 
gait the goddess stood confessed. The hero, soon as he 
knew his mother, with these accents pursued her as she 
fled : Why so oft dost thou too cruelly mock thy son with 
vain shapes? why is it not granted me to join my hand to 
thine, and to hear and answer thee by turns in words sin- 
cere and undissembled? Thus he expostulates with her, 
and directs his course to the walls. But Venus screened 
them on their way with dim clouds, and the goddess spread 
around them a thick veil of mist, that none might see, or 
touch, or cause them interruption, or inquire into the rea- 
sons of their coming. She herself wings her way sublime to 
Paphos, and with joy revisits her seats ; where, sacred- to 
her honor, is a temple, and a hundred altars smoke with 
Sabean incense, and are fragrant with fresh garlands. 

Meanwhile they urged their way where the path directs. 
And now they were ascending the hill that hangs over a 



VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK I. 21 

great part of the town, and from above surveys its opposite 
towers. Aeneas admires the mass of buildings, once cot- 
tages: he admires the gates, the bustle, and the paved 
streets. The Tyrians warmly ply the work : some extend 
the walls, and raise a tower and push along unwieldy 
stones ; some choose out the ground for a private building, 
and inclose it with a trench. Some choose [a place for] the 
courts of justice, for the magistrates' [halls] and the vener- 
able senate. Here some are digging ports ; there others are 
laying the foundations for lofty theaters, and hewing huge 
columns from the rocks, the lofty decorations of future 
scenes. Such their toil as in summer's prime employs the 
bees amid the flowery fields under the sun, when they lead 
forth the full-grown swarms of their race, or when they 
press close the liquid honey, and distend the cells with 
sweet nectar; or when they disburden those that come 
home loaded, or in formed battalion, drive the inactive 
flock of drones from the hives. The work is hotly plied, 
and the fragrant honey smells strongly of thyme. O happy 
ye, whose walls now rise ! Aeneas says, and lifts his eyes 
to the turrets of the city. Shrouded in a cloud (a marvel 
to be told !) he passes amid the multitude, and mingles with 
the throng, nor is seen by any. 

In the center of the city was a grove, most delightful in 
shade, where first the Carthaginians, driven by wind and 
wave, dug up the head of a sprightly courser, an omen 
which royal Juno showed: for by this [she signified], that 
the nation was to be renowned for war, brave and victori- 
ous through ages. Here Sidonian Dido built to Juno a 
stately temple, enriched with gifts, and the presence of the 
goddess ; whose brazen threshold rose on steps, the beams 
were bound with brass, and the hinge creaked beneath 
brazen gates. 

In this grove the view of an unexpected scene first abated 
the fear [of the Trojans] : here Aeneas first dared to hope 
for redress, and to conceive better hopes of his afflicted 
state. For while he surveys every object in the spacious 
temple, waiting the queen's arrival; while he is musing 
with wonder on the fortune of the city; and [compares] the 
skill of the artists and theii' elaborate works, he sees the 



22 VEEGIL8 AEINEID, BOOK I. 

Trojan battles [delineated] in order, and the war now 
known by fame over all the world; the sons of Atreiis, 
Priam, and Achilles implacable to both. He stood still; 
and, with tears in his eyes, exclaims, What place, Achates, 
what country on the globe, is not full of our disaster? See 
Priam! even here praiseworthy deeds meet with due re- 
ward : here are tears for misfortunes, and the breasts are 
touched with human woes. Dismiss your fears : this fame 
of ours will bring thee some relief. Thus he speaks, and 
feeds his mind with the empty representations, heaving 
many a sigh, and bathes his visage in floods of tears. For 
he beheld how, on one hand, the warrior Greeks were flee- 
ing round the walls of Troy, Avhile the Trojan youth closely 
pursued; on the other hand, the Trojans [were fleeing], 
while plumed Achilles, in his chariot, pressed on their rear. 
Not far from that scene, weeping, he espies the tents of 
Ehesus, with their snow-white veils; which, betrayed by 
the first sleep, cruel Diomede plundered, drenched in much 
blood, and led away his fiery steeds to the [G-recian] camp, 
before they had tasted the pasture of Troy, or drank of 
Xanthus. In another part, Troilus, fleeing after the loss of 
his arms, ill-fated youth, and unequally matched with 
Achilles! is dragged by his horses, and from the empty 
chariot hangs supine, yet grasping the reins ; his neck and 
hair trail along the ground, and the dusty plain is traced 
by the inverted spear. Meanwhile the Trojan matrons 
were marching to the temple of adverse Pallas, with their 
hair dishevelled, and were bearing tlie robe, suppliantly 
mournful, and beating their bosoms with their hands. The 
goddess turned away, kept her eyes fixed on the ground. 
Thrice had Achilles dragged Hector round the walls of 
Troy, and was selling his breathless corpse for gold. Then, 
indeed, Aeneas sent forth a deep groan from the bottom of 
his breast, when he saw the spoils, the chariot, and the 
very body of his friend, and Priam stretching forth his 
feeble hands. Himself, too, he recognized mingled with 
the Grecian leaders, and the Eastern bands, and the arms 
of swarthy Memnon. Furious Penthesilea leads on her 
troops of Amazons, with their crescent shields, and burns 
amid the thickest ranks. Below her exposed breast the 
heroine had girt a golden belt, and the virgin warrior dares 
even to encounter with men. 



VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK I. 23 

While these things seem wonderful to Trojan Aeneas, 
while he is lost in thought, and in one gaze stands unmoved ; 
Queen Dido, of surpassing beauty, advanced to the temple 
attended by a numerous retinue of youth. As on the banks 
of Eurotas, or on Mount Cynthus' top, Diana leads the cir- 
cular dances, round whom a numerous train of mountain 
nymphs play in rings ; she bears her quiver on her shoul- 
der, and moving majestic, she towers above the other god- 
desses, while silent raptures thrill Latona's bosom; such 
Dido was, and such, with cheerful grace, she passed amid 
her train, urging forward the labor and her future king- 
dom. Then at the gate of the goddess, in the middle of the 
temple's dome, she took her seat, surrounded with her 
guards, and raised aloft on a throne. [Here] she dispensed 
justice and laws to her subjects, and, in equal portions, 
distributed their tasks, or settled them by lot;, -svhen sud- 
denly Aeneas sees, advancing with a vast concourse, An- 
theus, Sergestus, brave Cloanthus, and other Trojans, whom 
a black storm had tossed up and down the sea, and driven 
to other far-distant shores. At once he was amazed, at 
once Achates was struck, and between joy and fear both 
ardently longed to join hands; but the uncertainty of the 
event perplexes their minds. They carry on their disguise, 
and, shrouded under the bending cloud, watch to learn the 
fortune of their friends ; on what coast they left the fleet, 
and on what errand they came : for a select number had 
come from all the ships to sue for grace, and, with mingled 
voices, approached the temple. 

Having gained admission and liberty to speak in the 
presence, Ilioneus their chief, with mind composed, thus 
began : queen, to whom Jove has granted to found this 
rising city, and to curb proud nations with just laws, we 
Trojans forlorn, tossed by winds over every sea, implore 
thee: keep from our ships the merciless flames; spare a 
pious race, and propitiously regard our distresses. We are 
not come either to ravage with the sword the Libyan 
abodes, or to seize and bear away the plunder to our ships. 
We have no such hostile intention, nor does such pride of 
heart become the vanquished. There is a place called by 



24 VERGIL'S AEi;rEID, BOOK I. 

the Greeks Hesperia, an ancient land, renowned for mar- 
tial deeds and fruitful soil; the CEnotrians possessed it 
once : now there is a report that their descendants call the 
nation Italy, from their leader's name; hither our course 
was bent, when suddenly tempestuous Orion rising from 
the main, drove us on hidden shallows and with southern 
blasts fiercely sporting, tossed us hither and thither over 
waves, and over pathless rocks, overwhelmed by the briny 
deep : hither we few have floated to your coasts. What a 
race of men is this ? what country so barbarous to allow 
such manners ? We are denied the hospitality of the shore. 
In arms they rise, and forbid our setting foot on the first 
verge of land. If you set at nought the human kind, and 
the arms of mortals, yet know the gods have a mindful 
regard to right and wrong. We had for our king Aeneas, 
than whom no one was more just in piety, none more 
signalized in war and in martial achievements; whom, if 
the Fates preserve, if he breathe the vital air, and do not 
yet rest with the ruthless shades, neither shall we despair, 
nor you repent your having been the first in challenging 
to acts of kindness. We have likewise cities and fields in 
Sicily, and the illustrious Acestes of Trojan extraction. 
Permit us to bring to shore our wind-beaten fleet, and 
from your woods to choose [trees for] planks, and to 
refit our oars; that, if it be granted to bend om- course 
to Italy, upon the recovery of our prince and friends, we 
may joyfully seek Italy and Latium. But if our safety 
has perished, and thou, O father of the Trojans, the best 
of men ! now liest buried in the Libyan sea, and no further 
hope of liilus remains, we may at least repair to the 
straits of Sicily, and the settlement there prepared for us 
(whence we were driven hither), and visit king Acestes. 
So spoke Ilioneus; at the same time, the other Trojans 
murmured their consent. 

Then Dido, with downcast looks, thus in brief replies: 
Trojans, banish fear from your breasts, lay your cares 
aside. My hard fate, and the infancy of my kingdom, 
force me to take such measures and to secure my frontiers 
with guards around. Who is stranger to the Aeneian race, 
the city of Troy, her heroes, and their valorous deeds, and 
to the devastations of so renowned a war? 
3 



VERGIL*S AEKEID, BOOK 1. 25 

We Carthaginians do not possess hearts that are so 
obdurate, nor yokes the sun his steeds so far away from 
our Tyrian city. Whether Hesperia the greater, and the 
country where Saturn reigned, or ye choose [to visit] Eryx' 
coast and king Acestes, I will dismiss you safe with 
assistance, and support you with my wealth. Or will you 
settle with me in this realm? The city which I am build- 
ing shall be yours: draw your ships ashore; Trojan and 
Tyrian shall be treated by me with no distinction. And 
would that your prince Aeneas too were here, driven by 
the same wind! However, I will send trusty messengers 
along the coasts, with order to search Libya's utmost 
bounds, if he is thrown out to wander in some wood or 
city. 

Animated by these words, brave Achates and father 
Aeneas had long impatiently desired to break from the 
cloud. Achates first addressed Aeneas: Goddess-born, 
what purpose now arises in your mind? You see all is 
safe; your fleet and friends restored. One alone is miss- 
ing, whom we ourselves beheld sunk in the midst of the 
waves : everything else agrees with your mother's predic- 
tion. He had scarcely spoken, when suddenly the circum- 
ambient cloud splits asunder, and dissolves into open air. 
Aeneas stood forth, and in the clear light shone conspic- 
uous, in countenance and form resembling a god: for his 
mother herself had breathed upon her son graceful locks, 
and the radiant bloom of youth, and breathed a sprightly 
luster on his eyes : such beauty as the hand superadds to 
ivorj^, or where silver or Parian marble is enchased with 
yellow gold. 

Then suddenly addressing the queen, he, to the surprise 
of all, thus begins: I, whom you seek, am present before 
you ; Trojan Aeneas, snatched from the Libyan waves. O 
thou, who alone hast commiserated Troy's unutterable 
calamities ! who in thy town and palace dost associate us, a 
remnant saved from the Greeks, who have now been worn 
out by woes in every shape, both by sea and land, and are 
in want of all things! to repay thee due thanks, great 
queen, exceeds the power not only of us, but of all the 
Dardan race, wherever dispersed over the world. 



2G Vergil's aeneid, book i. 

The gods (if any powers divine regard the pious, if jus- 
tice anywhere exists, and a mind conscious of its own 
virtue) shall yield thee a just recompense. What age was 
so happy as to produce thee? who were the parents of so 
illustrious an offspring? While rivers run into the sea, 
while shadows move round the convex mountains, while 
heaven feeds the stars ; your honor, name, and praise shall 
ever live, to whatever climes I am called. This said, he 
embraces his friend Ilioneus with his right hand, and 
Serestus with his left ; then the rest, the heroic Gyas, and 
heroic Cloanthus. 

Sidonian Dido stood astonished, first at the presence of 
the hero, then at his signal sufferings and thus her speech 
addressed: What hard fate, O goddess-born, pursues thee 
through such mighty dangers ! what power drives thee on 
this barbarous coast? Are you that Aeneas, whom, by 
Phrygian Simois' stream, fair Venus bore to Trojan 
Anchises? and now, indeed, I call to mind that Teucer, 
expelled from his native country, came to Sidon in quest 
of a new kingdom, by the aid of Belus. My father Belus 
then ravaged wealthy Cyprus, and held it in subjection to 
his victorious arms. Ever since that time I have been ac- 
quainted with the fate of Troy, with your name, and the 
Grecian kings. The enemy himself extolled the Trojans 
with distinguished praise, and with pleasure traced his 
descent from the ancient Trojan race. Come then, youths, 
enter our walls. Me, too, through a series of labors tossed, 
a like fortune has at length doomed to settle in this land. 
Not unacquainted with misfortune, I have learned to succor 
the distressed. This said, she forthwith leads Aeneas into 
the royal apartments, and at the same time ordains due 
honors for the temples of the gods. Meanwhile, with no 
less care, she sends presents to his companions on the 
shore, twenty bulls, a hundred bristly backs of huge 
boars, a hundred fat lambs, with the ewes, as gifts and 
pleasure for the day. But the inner rooms are splendidly 
furnished with regal pomp, and banquets are prepared in 
the middle of the hail. Couch draperies wrought with 
art, and of proud purple : 



Vergil's aeneid, book i. 27 

massy silver plate on the table, and, embossed in gold, 
the brave exploits of her ancestors, a lengthened series 
of history traced down through so many heroes, from 
the first founder of the ancient race. 

Aeneas (for paternal affection suffered not his mind to 
rest) with speed sends on Achates t& the ships, to bear 
those tidings to Ascanius, and bring [the boy] himself 
to the city. All the care of the fond parent centers 
in Ascanius. Besides, he bids him bring presents, saved 
from the ruins of Troy, a mantle stiff with gold and 
figures, and a veil woven round with saffron-colored 
acanthus, the ornaments of Grecian Helen, which she 
had brought with her from Mycenee, when bound for Troy, 
and lawless nuptials ; her mother Leda's wondrous gift ; a 
scepter, too, which once Ilione, Priam's eldest daughter, 
bore, a necklace strung with pearl, and a crown set with 
double rows of gems and gold. This message to dispatch, 
Achates directed his course to the ships. 

But Venus revolves in her breast new plots, new designs ; 
that Cupid should come in place of sweet Ascanius, assum- 
ing his mien and features, and by the gifts kindle in the 
queen all the rage of love, and enwrap the flame in her 
very bones ; for she dreads the equivocating race, and the 
double-tongued Tyrians.^ Fell Juno torments her, and with 
the night her care returns. To winged Love, therefore, she 
addresses these words: O son, my strength, my mighty 
power; my son, who alone defiest the Typhoean bolts of 
Jove supreme, to thee I flee, and suppliant implore thy 
deity. 'Tis known to thee how round all shores thy 
brother Aeneas is tossed from sea to sea, by the spite of 
partial Juno, and in my grief thou hast often grieved. 
Him Phoenician Dido entertains, and amuses with smooth 
speech ; and I fear w^hat may be the issue of Juno's acts of 
hospitality ; she will not be idle in so critical a conjuncture ; 
wherefore, I propose to prevent the queen by subtle means, 
and to beset her with the flames of love, that no power 
may influence her to cliange, 



28 VERGIL'S AEXEID, BOOK I. 

but that with me she may be possessed by great fondness 
for Aeneas. How this thou mayest effect, now hear my 
plan. The royal boy, my chief care, at his father's call, 
prepares to visit the Sidonian city, bearing presents saved 
from the sea and flames of Troy. Him having lulled to 
rest, I will lay dowii in some sacred retreat on Cythera's 
tops, or above Idalium, lest he should discover the plot, 
or interfere with it. Do you artfully counterfeit his 
face but for one night, and, yourself a boy, assume a boy's 
familiar looks; that when Dido shall take thee to her 
bosom in the height of her joy, amid the royal feasts, 
and Bacchus' stream, when she shall give thee embraces 
and imprint sweet kisses, thou mayest breathe into 
her the secret flame, and by stealth convey the poison. 
Love obeys the dictates of his dear mother, and lays aside 
his wings, and joyful trips along in the gait of liilus. 
Meanwhile "Venus pours the dews of balmy sleep on 
Ascanius' limbs, and in her bosom fondled, conveys him to 
Idalia's lofty groves, where soft marjoram, perfuming the 
air with flowers and fragrant shade, clasps him round. 

Now, in obedience to his instructions, Cupid went along, 
and bore the royal presents to the Tyrians, pleased with 
Achates for his guide. By the time he arrived, the queen 
had placed herself on a golden couch, under a rich canopy, 
and had taken her seat in the middle. Now father Aeneas, 
and now the Trojan youth, join the assembly, and recline 
on the strewn purple. 

The attendants supply water for the hands, dispense the 
gifts of Ceres from baskets, and furnish them with the 
smooth-shorn towels. Within are fifty handmaids, whose 
task it was to prepare provisions in due order, and do 
honor to the household gods. A hundred more, and as 
many servants of equal age, are employed to load the 
boards with dishes, and place the cups. In like manner 
the Tyrians, a numerous train, assembled in the joyful 
courts, invited to recline on the embroidered beds. They 
view with wonder the presents of Aeneas: nor with less 
wonder do they view liilus, the glowing aspect of the god, 
his well-dissembled words, the mantle and veil figured 
with leaves of the acanthus in saffron colors. 



Vergil's aekeid, book i. 29 

Chiefly the unhappy Phoenician henceforth devoted to 
love's pestilential influence, cannot satisfy her feelings, 
and is inflamed with every glance, and is equally moved 
by the boy and by his gifts. He on Aeneas' neck having 
hung with embraces, and having fully gratified his ficti- 
tious father's ardent affections, makes for the queen. 
She clings to him with her eyes, her whole soul, and 
sometimes fondles him in her lap, Dido not thinking what 
a powerful god is settling on her, hapless one. Mean- 
while he, mindful of his Acidalian mother, begins insen- 
sibly to efface the memory of Sichseus, and with a living 
flame tries to prepossess her languid affections, and her 
heart, chilled by long disuse. 

Soon as the first banquet ended, and the viands were 
removed, they place large mixers, and crown the wines. 
A bustling din arises through the hall, and they roll 
through the ample courts the bounding voice. Down from 
the gold-fretted ceilings hang the flaming lamps, and 
torches overpower the darkness of the night. Here the 
queen called for a bowl, heavy with gems and gold, and 
with pure wine filled it to the brim, which Belus, and all 
her ancestors from Belus, used; then, having enjoined 
silence through the palace [she thus began] : O Jove (for by 
thee, it is said, the laws of hospitality were given), grant 
this may be an auspicious day both to the Tyrians and my 
Trojan guests, and may this day be commemorated by our 
posterity. Bacchus, the giver of joy, and propitious Juno, 
be present here; and you, my Tyrians, with good will, 
solemnize this meeting. She said, and on the table poured 
an offering; and, after the libation, first gently touched 
[the cup] with her lips, then gave it to Bitias Avith a cbal- 
lenge: he quickly drained the foaming bowl, and laved 
himself with the brimming gold. After him the other 
lords [drank]. Long-haired lopas [next] times his golden 
lyre to what the mighty Atlas taught. He sings of the 
wandering moon, and the eclipses of the sun; whence the 
race of men and beasts, whence the rain and lightnings; of 
Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, and the two northern wains ; 
why winter suns make so much haste to set in the ocean, 
or what retarding cause detains the slow [summer] nights. 
The Tyrians redouble their applauses and the Trojans con- 
cur. 



30 VERGII/S AENEID, BOOK t. 

Meanwhile unhappy Dido, Avith varied converse, spuil 
out the night, and drank long draughts of love, questioning 
much about Priam, much about Hector ; now in what arms 
Aurora's son had come ; now what were the excellences of 
Diomedes steeds; now how mighty was Achilles. Nay, 
come, my guest, she says ; and from the first origin relate 
to us the stratagems of the Greeks, the adventures of your 
friends, and your own wanderings; for now the seventh 
summer brings thee [to our coasts], through wandering 
mazes roaming over every land and sea. 



BOOK SECOND. 

SYNOPSIS. 
THE STORY OF THE SACK OF TROY. 

Aeneas, at the request of Dido, relates to her the suffer- 
ings of his countrymen. He tells her how the city, after a 
siege of ten years, was finally taken through the treachery 
of one Sinon and the stratagem of a wooden horse: that 
not until advised by Hector's ghost and the appearance of 
his mother, Venus, did he abandon his determination to 
survive his country's ruin: that then he conceived the 
plan of leaving his country and settling elsewhere. He 
then tells her how he carried his aged father Anchises on 
his shoulders, while his little son Ascanius walked at his 
side, and his wife Creiisa followed at some distance behind : 
how he found at the place of general rendezvous a great 
concourse of people ready to engage in any enterprise: 
how he missed his wife, and, frantic with despair, resolved 
to rescue her at the peril of his own life. With this in 
view he returns to the city, but, while searching for her, 
her ghost appears to him, quiets his mind and informs him 
of the land the fates had destined to him. He also relates 
his own adventures on that fatal night, when Priam's 
once powerful kingdom fell. 



THE 

AENEID 

OF 

P. VEEGILIUS MARO. 



BOOK II. 



All became silent, and fixed their eyes upon him, 
eagerly attentive ; then father Aeneas thus from his lofty 
couch began : 

Unutterable woes, O queen, you urge me to renew: to 
tell how the Greeks overturned the power of Troy, and its 
deplorable realms: both what scenes of misery I myself 
beheld and those wherein I was a principal party. What 
Myrmidon, or Dolopian, or who of hardened Ulysses' band, 
can, in the very telling of such woes, refrain from tears? 
Besides, humid night is hastening down the sky, and the 
setting stars invite to sleep. But if you are so desirous of 
knowing our misfortunes, and of briefly hearing the last 
effort of Troy, though my soul shudders at the remem- 
brance, and hath shrunk back with grief, yet will I begin. 
The Grecian leaders, now disheartened by the war, and 
baffled by the Fates, after a revolution of so many years, 
[being assisted] by the divine skill of Pallas, build a horse 
as lar^e as a mountain, and interweave its ribs with planks 
of fir. This they pretend to be an offering, in order to pro- 
cure a safe return ; which report spreads. Hither having 
secretly conveyed a select band, chosen by lot, they shut 
them up into the dark sides, and fill its capacious caverns 
and womb with armed soldiers. 

In sight [of Troy] lies Tenedos, an island well known by 
fame, and flourishing while Priam's kingdom stood: 
4 



BOOK II. 33 

now only a bay, and a station unfaithful for ships. Having 
made this island, they conceal themselves in that desolate 
shore. We imagined they were gone, and that they had set 
sail for Mycenae. In consequence of [this], all Troy is 
released from its long distress : the gates are thrown open ; 
with joy we issue forth, and view the Grrecian camp, the 
deserted plains, and the abandoned shore. Here were the 
Dolopian bands, there stern Achilles had pitched his tent ; 
here were the ships drawn up, there they were wont to con- 
tend in array. Some view with amazement that baleful 
offering of the vii-gin Minerva, and wonder at the stupen- 
dous bulk of the horse ; and Thymoetes first advised that 
it be dragged within the walls and lodged in the tower, 
whether with treacherous design, or that the destiny of 
Troy now would have it so. But Capys, and all whose 
minds had wiser sentiments, strenuously urge either to 
throw into the sea the treacherous snare and suspected 
oblation of the Greeks ; or by applying flames consume it 
to ashes; or to lay open and ransack the recesses of the 
hollow womb. The fickle populace is split into opposite 
inclinations. 



Upon this, Laocoon, accompanied with a numerous troop, 
first before all, with ardor hastens down from the top of 
the citadel; and while yet a great way off [cries out], O 
wretched countrymen, what desperate infatuation is this? 
Do you believe the enemy gone? or think you any gift of 
the Greeks can be free from deceit? Is Ulysses thus known 
to you? Either the Greeks lie concealed within this wood, 
or it is an engine framed against our walls, to overlook our 
houses, and to come down upon our city ; or some mischiev- 
ous design lurks beneath it. Trojans, put no faith in this 
horse. Whatever it be, I dread the Greeks even when they 
bring gifts. Thus said, with valiant strength he hurled his 
massy spear against the sides and belly of the monster, 
where it swelled out with its jointed timbers ; the weapon 
stood quivering, and the womb being shaken, the hollow 
caverns rang, and sent forth a groan. And had not the 
decrees of heaven [been adverse], if our minds had not 
been infatuated, he had prevailed on us to mutilate with 
the sword this dark recess of the Greeks ; and thou, Troy, 
wouldst still have stood, and thou, lofty tower of Priam, 
now remained! 

In the mean time, behold, Trojan shepherds, with loud 



34 Vergil's aekeid, book ii. 

acclamations, came dragging to the king a youth, whose 
hands were bound behind him; who, to them a mere 
stranger, had voluntarily thrown himself in the way, to 
promote this same design, and open Troy to the Greeks ; a 
resolute soul, and prepared for both, either to execute his 
perfidious purpose, or submit to inevitable deatli. The 
Trojan youth pour tumultuously around from every quar- 
ter, from eagerness to see him, and they vie with one 
another in insulting the captive. Now learn the treach- 
ery of the Greeks, and from one crime take a specimen 
of the whole nation. T'or as he stood among the gaz- 
ing crowds perplexed, defenceless, and threw his eyes 
around the Trojan bands, Ah! says he, what land, what 
seas can now receive me? or to what further extremity can 
I, a forlorn wretch, be reduced, for whom there is no 
shelter anywhere among the Greeks? and to complete my 
misery, the Trojans too, incensed against me, sue for satis- 
faction with my blood. By Avhich jnournful accents our 
affections at once were moved toward him, and all our 
resentment suppressed: we exhort him to say from what 
race he sprung, or what message he brings to declare what 
confidence we may repose in him, now that he is our 
prisoner. 



Then he, having at length laid aside fear, thus proceeds : 
I indeed, O king, will confess to you the whole truth, says 
he, be the event what will ; nor will I disown that I am of 
Grecian extraction: this I promise; nor shall it be in the 
power of cruel fortune, though she has made Sinon miser- 
able, to make him also false and disingenuous. If acciden- 
tally, in the course of report, the name of Palamedes, the 
descendant of Belus, and his illustrious renown, ever 
reached your ears (who, though innocent, the Greeks sent 
down to death, under a false accusation of treason, upon a 
villainous evidence, because he gave his opinion against 
the war; [but whom] now they mourn bereaved of the 
light) ; with him my poor father sent me in company to the 
war, fi-om my earliest years, being his near relative. While 
he remained safe in the kingdom, and had weight in the 
counsels of the princess, I too bore some reputation and 
honor: [but] from the time that he, by the malice of the 
crafty Ulysses (they are well-known truths I speak), quitted 
the regions above, I distressed dragged out my life in ob- 
scurity and grief. 



VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK II. 35 

and secretly repined at the fate of my innocent friend. 
Nor could I hold my peace, fool that I was, but vowed 
revenge, if fortune should anyway give me the oppor- 
tunity, if ever I should return victorious to my native 
Argos; and, by my words, I provoked bitter enmity. 
Hence arose the first symptom of my misery; henceforth 
Ulysses was always terrifying me with new accusations; 
henceforth he began to spread ambiguous surmises among 
the vulgar, and, conscious [of his own guilt], sought the 
means of defense. Nor did he give over, till, by making 
Calchas his tool — But why do I thus in vain unfold these 
disagreeables? or why do I lose time? If you place all the 
Greeks on the same footing, and your having heard that be 
enough [to undo me], this very instant strike the fatal 
blow: this the prince of Ithaca wishes, and the sons of 
Atreus would give large sums to purchase. 

Then, indeed, we grow impatient to know and to find 
out the causes, unacquainted with such consummate vil- 
lainy and Grecian artifice. He proceeds with palpitation, 
and speaks in the falsehood of his heart. 

After quitting Troy, the Greeks sought often to surmount 
the difiiculties of their return, and, tired out with the 
length of the war, to be gone. And I wish they had ! 
Often did the rough tempest on the ocean bar their flight, 
and the south wind deterred them in their setting out. 
Especially w^hen now this horse, framed of maple planks, 
wa» reared, storms roared through all the regions of the 
air. In perplexity we send Eurypylus to consult the oracle 
of Apollo ; and from the sacred shrine he brings back this 
dismal response: Ye appeased the winds, O ye Greeks, 
with the blood of a virgin slain, when first you arrived 
on the Trojan coast; by blood must your return be 
purchased, and atonement made by the life of a Greek. 
Which intimation no sooner reached the ears of the 
multitude, than their minds were stunned, and freezing 
horror thrilled through their very bones; [anxious to know] 
whom the Fates destined, whom Apollo demanded. Upon 
this Ulysses drags forth Calchas the seer, with great bustle, 
into the midst of the crowd ; importunes him to say what 
that will of the gods may be; and, by this time, many 
presaged to me the cruel purpose of the dissembler, and 
quietly foresaw the event. He, for twice five days is mute, 
and close shut up, refuses to give forth his declaration 
against any person, or doom him to death. 



36 VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK II. 

At length, with much ado, teased by the importunate 
clamors of Ulysses, he breaks silence by concert, and 
destines nie to the altar. All assented, and were content 
to have what each dreaded for himself, turned off to the 
ruin of one poor wretch. And now the rueful day 
approached; for me the sacred rites were prepared, and 
the salted cakes, and fillets [to bind] about my temples. 
From death, I own, I made my escape, and broke my 
bonds; and in a slimy fen all night I lurked obscure 
among the weeds, till they should set sail, if by chance 
they should do so. Nor have I now any hope of being 
blessed with the sight of my anciejit country, nor of my 
sweet children, and my much-beloved sire; whom they, 
perhaps, will sue to vengeance for my escape, and expiate 
this offense of mine by the death of those unhappy 
innocents. But I conjure 3-ou, by the powers above, 
by the gods who are conscious of truth, by Arhatever 
remains of inviolable faith any where among mortals, 
compassionate such grievous afflictions, compassionate a 
soul suffering unworthy treatment. 

At these tears we grant him his hfe, and pity him from 
our hearts. Priam himself first gives orders that the man- 
acles and strait bonds be loosed from the man, then thus 
addresses him in the language of a friend: Whoever you 
are, now henceforth forget the Greeks you have lost ; ours 
you shall be; and give me an ingenuous reply to these 
questions: To what purpose raised they this stupendous 
bulk of a horse? who was the contriver? or what do they 
intend? what was the religious motive? or what war-like 
engine is it? he said. The other, practiced in fraud and 
Grecian artifice, lifted up to heaven his hands, loosed from 
the bonds : To you, ye everlasting orbs of fire, he says, and 
your inviolable divinity; to you, ye altars, and "^ horrid 
swords, which I escaped ; and ye fillets of the gods, which 
I a victim wore : to you I appeal, that I am free to violate 
all the sacred obligations I was under to the Greeks ; I am 
free to hold these men in abhorrence, and to bring forth to 
light all their dark designs, if any they conceal; nor am I 
boimd by any of the laws of my country. Only do thou, 
O Troy,^abide by thy promises,' and, being preserved, pre- 
serve thy faith :"^ provided I disclose the truth, provided I 
make thee large amends. 

The whole hope of the Greeks, and their confidence in 
the war begun, 



yergtl's aeneid, book II. 37 

always depended upon the aid of Pallas: but when the 
sacrilegious Diomede, and Ulysses the contriver of wicked 
designs, in their attempt to carry off by force from 
her holy temple the fatal Palladium, having slain the 
guards of her high tower, seized her sacred image, and 
with bloody hands dared to touch the virgin fillets of 
the goddess ; from that day the hope of the Greeks began 
to ebb, and losing footing, to decline : their powers were 
weakened, the mind of the goddess alienated: nor did Tri- 
tonia show these indications [of her wrath] by dubious 
prodigies ; for scarcely was the statue set up in the camp, 
when bright flames flashed from her staring eyeballs, and 
a briny sweat flowed over her limbs; and (wonderful to 
tell) she herself sprung thrice from the ground, armed as 
she was, with hei' shield and quivering spear. Forthwith 
Calchas declares, that we must attempt the seas in flight, 
and that Troy can never be razed by the Grecian sword, 
unless they repeat the omens at Argos, and carry back the 
goddess whom they had conveyed over the sea w^ith them- 
selves in their curved ships. And now, that they have 
sailed for their native Mycenae with the wind, they are pro- 
viding themselves with arms, and gods to accompany them ; 
and, having measured back the sea, they will come upon 
you unexpected: so Calchas interprets the omens. This 
figure, being Avarned, they reared in lieu of the Palladium, 
in lieu of the violated goddess, in order to atone for their 
direful crime. But Calchas commanded to build this 
enormous mass of fabricated oak and raise it to the skies, 
that it might not be admitted into the gates, or dragged 
into the city, nor protect the people under their ancient 
religion. For [he declared that] if your hands should 
violate this offering sacred to Minerva, then signal ruin 
(which omen may the gods rather turn on himself!) 
awaited Priam's empire and the Trojans. But, if by your 
hands it mounted into the city, that Asia, without further 
provocation given, would advance w^ith a formidable war 
to the very walls of Pelops, and our posterity be doomed to 
the same fate. 

By such treachery and artifice of perjured Sinon, the 
story was believed: and we, w^hom neither Diomede, nor 
Larisssean Achilles, nor [a siege of] ten years, nor a thou- 
sand ships, had subdued, were insnared by guile and con- 
strained tears. 



38 Vergil's aeneid, book it. 

Here another greater scene, and far more terrible, is pre- 
sented to our wretched sight, and disturbs our unexpect- 
ing breasts. Laocoon, ordained Neptune's priest by lot, 
was sacrificing a stately bullock at the altars set apart for 
that solemnity ; when lo ! from Tenedos over the tranquil 
deep (I shudder at the relation) two serpents, with orbs 
immense, bear along on the sea, and with equal motion 
shoot forward to the shore ; whose breasts erect amid the 
waves, and crests bedropped with blood, tower above the 
flood: their other parts sweep the sea behind, and wind 
their spacious backs in rolling spires. A loud noise is made 
by the briny ocean foaming: and now they reached the 
shores, and, suffused with fire and blood as to their glaring 
eyes, with (quivering tongues licked their hissing mouths. 
Pale with fear at the sight, we flee different ways. They, 
with resolute motion advance toward Laocoon; and first 
both serpents, with close embraces, twine around the little 
bodies of his two sons, and with their fangs mangle their 
wretched limbs. Next they seize himself, as he is coming 
up with weapons to their relief, and bind him fast in their 
mighty folds; and now grasping him twice about the 
middle, twice winding their scaly backs around his neck, 
they overtop him by the head and lofty neck. He strains 
at once with his hands to tear asunder their knotted spires, 
while his fillets are stained with gore and black poison : at 
the same time he raises hideous shrieks to heaven ; such 
bellowing as when a bull has fled wounded from the altar, 
and has eluded with his neck the missing axe. Meanwhile, 
the two serpents glide off to the high temple, and repair to 
the fane of stern Tritonia, and are sheltered under the feet 
of the goddess, and the orb of her buckler. Then, indeed, 
new terror diffuses itself through the quaking hearts of all ; 
and they pronounce Laocoon to have deservedly suffered 
for his crime, in having violated the sacred wood with his 
pointed w^eapon, and hurled his profane spear against its 
sides. They urge with general voice to convej^ the statue 
to its proper seat, and implore the favor of the goddess. 
We make a breach in the walls, and lay open the bulwarks 
of the city. All keenly ply the work : and under the feet 



Vergil's aeneid, book ir. 39 

apply smooth-rolling wheels; stretch hempen ropes from 
the neck. The fatal machine passes over our walls, preg- 
nant with arms; boys and unmarried virgins accompany 
it with sacred hymns, and are glad to touch the rope with 
their hands. It advances, and with menacing aspect slides 
into the heart of the city. O country, O Ilium, the habita- 
tion of gods, and ye walls of Troy by war renowned ! Four 
times it stopped in the very threshold of the gate, and four 
times the arms resounded in its womb : yet we, heedless, 
and blind with frantic zeal, urge on, and plant the baneful 
monster in the sacred citadel. Then, too, Cassandra, by 
the inspiration of the god, opens her lips to our approach- 
ing doom, never believed Ijy the Trojans. Unhappy we, to 
whom that day was to be the last, adorn the temples of the 
gods throughout the city with festive boughs. 

Meanwhile, the heavens change, and night advances rap- 
idly from the ocean, wrapping in her extended shade both 
earth and heaven, and the wiles of the Myrmidons. The 
Trojans, dispersed about the walls, were hushed: deep 
Sleep fast binds them weary in his embraces. And now 
the Grecian host, in their equipped vessels, set out from 
Tenedos, making toward the well-known shore, by the 
friendly silence of the quiet moonshine, as soon as the royal 
[galleyl stern had exhibited the signal fire; and Sinon, pre- 
served by the will of the adverse gods, in a stolen hour 
unlocks the wooden prison to the Greeks shut up in its 
womb: the horse, from his expanded caverns, pours them 
forth to the open air; and with joy issue from the hollow 
wood Thessandrus and Sthenelus the chiefs, and dire 
Ulysses, sliding down by a suspended rope, with Acamas 
and Thoas, Neoptolemus, the grandson of Peleus, and 
Machaon who led the way, with Menelaus, and Epeus the 
very contriver of the trick. They assault the city buried in 
sleep and wine. The sentinels are beaten down ; and with 
opened gates they receive all their friends, and join the 
conscious bands. 

It was the time when the first sleep invades languid mor- 
tals, and steals upon them, by the gift of the gods, most 
sweet. In my sleep, lo! Hector, extremely sad seemed 
to stand before my eyes, and to shed floods of tears; 



40 Vergil's aeneid, book ii. 

dragged, as formerly, by the chariot, and black with 
gory dust, and his swollen feet bored through with thongs. 
Ah me ! in what piteous plight he was ! how changed from 
that Hector who returned clad in the armor of Achilles, 
or darting Phrygian flames against the ships of Greece! 
wearing a grizzly beard, hair clotted with blood, and those 
many wounds which he had received under his native 
walls. I, methought, in tears addressed the hero first, and 
poured forth these mournful accents: O light of Troy, O 
Trojans' firmest hope! what tedious causes have detained 
thee so long? Whence comest thou, my long-looked-for 
Hector? With what joy do we weary behold thee after 
the many deaths of thy friends, after the various disasters 
of men and city! What unworthy cause has deformed 
the serenity of thy looks? or why do I behold these 
wounds? He [said] not a word; nor regards me, question- 
ing of what nought availed ; but heavily, from the bottom 
of his heart, drawing a groan, he says, Ah ! flee, thou god- 
dess-born, and snatch thyself from these flames: the enemy 
is in possession of the walls; Troy falls from its towering 
tops. To Priam, to my country, all duty has been done. 
Could those walls have been saved by the hand, by this 
same hand had they been saved. Troy commends to thee 
her sacred things, and her gods: these take companions 
of thy fate ; for these go in quest of a city, which, in process 
of time, you shall erect, larger of size, after a wandering 
voyage. He said, and with his own hands brings forth, 
from the inner temple, the fillets, the powerful Vesta, and 
the fire which always burned. 

Meanwhile the city is filled with mingled scenes of woe ; 
and though my father Anchises' house stood retired, and 
inclosed with trees, louder and louder the sounds rise on 
the ear, and the horrid din of arms assails. I start from 
sleep, and, by hasty steps, gain the highest battlement of 
the palace, and stand with erect ears : as when a flame is 
driven by the furious south winds on standing corn ; or as 
a torrent impetuously bursting in a mountain-flood deso- 
lates the fields, desolates the rich crops of corn, and the 
labors of the ox, and drags woods headlong down: the 
unwary shepherd, struck with the sound from the top of a 
high rock, stands amazed. 
5 



VERGTL^S AENEID, BOOK IT. 41 

Then, indeed, the truth is confirmed, and the treachery 
of the Greeks disclosed. Now Deiphobus' spacious house 
tumbles down, overpowered by the conflagration; now, 
next to him, Ucalegon blazes : the straits of Sigseum shine 
far and wide with the flames. The shout of men and 
clangor of trumpets arise. My arms I snatch in mad 
haste : nor is there in arms enough of reason : but all my 
soul burns to collect a troop for the war, and rush into 
the citadel with my fellows: fury and rage hurry on my 
mind, and it occurs to me how glorious it is to die in arms. 

Lo! then Pantheus, escaped from the sword of the 
Greeks, Pantheus, the son of Othrys, priest of the citadel 
and of Apollo, is hurrying away with him the holy 
utensils, the conquered gods, and his little grandchild, 
and makes for the shore in distraction. How is it, Pan- 
theus, with the main affair? what fortress do we seize? 
I had scarcely spoken, when, with a groan, he thus 
replies: Our last day is come, and the inevitable doom of 
Troy: we are Trojans no more: adieu to Ilium, and the 
high renown of Teucer's race: fierce Jupiter hath trans- 
ferred all to Argos: the Greeks bear rule in the burning 
city. The towering horse, planted in the midst of our 
streets, pours forth armed troops; and Sinon victorious 
with insolent triumph scatters the flames. Others are 
pressing at our wide-opened gates, as many thousands as 
ever came from populous Mycenae : others with arms have 
blocked up the lanes to oppose our passage; the edged 
sword, with glittering point, stands unsheathed, ready for 
dealing death: hardly the foremost wardens of the gates 
make an effort to fight, and resist in the blind encounter. 
By these words of Pantheus, and hj the impulse of the 
gods, I hurry away into flames and arms; whither the 
grim Fury, whither the din and shrieks that rend the skies, 
urge me on. Ripheus, and Epytus, mighty in arms, join 
me; and Hypanis and Dymas coming up with us by the 
light of the moon, and closely adhere to my side; and also 
young Coroebus, Mygdon's son, who at*^ that time had 
chanced to come to Troy, inflamed with a mad passion for 
Cassandra, 



42 Vergil*s aeneid, book li. 

and [in prospect, his] son-in-law, brought assistance to 
Priam and the Trojans. Ill-fated youth, who heeded not 
the admonitions of his raving spouse! Whom, close 
united, soon as I saw resolute to engage, to animate 
them the more I thus begin: " Youths, souls magnanimous 
in vain! if it is your determined purpose to follow me in 
this last attempt, you see what is the situation of our 
affairs, xlll the gods, by whom this empire stood, have 
desei-ted their shrines and altars abandoned [to the enemy] : 
you come to the relief of the city in flames : let us meet 
death, and rush into the thickest of our armed foes. The 
only safety for the vanquished is to throw away all hope 
of safety." Thus the courage of each youth is kindled 
into fury. Then, like ravenous wolves in a gloomy fog, 
whom the fell rage of hunger hath driven forth, blind to 
danger, and whose whelps left behind long for their return 
with thirsting jaws; through arms, through enemies, we 
march up to imminent death, and advance through the 
middle of the city : sable Night hovers around us with her 
hollow shade. Who can describe in words the havoc, who 
the deaths of that night? or who can furnish tears equal 
to the disasters? Our ancient city, having borne sway for 
many years, falls to the ground : great numbers of sluggish 
carcasses are strewn up and down, both in the streets, in 
the houses, and the sacred thresholds of the gods. Nor do 
the Trojans alone pay the penalty with their blood: the 
vanquished too, at times, resume courage in their hearts, 
and the victorious Grecians fall: everywhere is cruel sor- 
row, everywhere terror and death in thousand shapes. 

Androgeos first comes up with us, accompanied by a 
numerous band of G-reeks, unadvisedly imagining that we 
were confederate troops; and he introduces himself to us 
with this friendly address: Haste, men; what so tardy 
sloth detains you? Others tear and plunder the blazing 
towers of Troy: are you but just come from your lofty 
ships? He said, and instantly perceived (for we returned 
him no very trusty answer) that he had stumbled into the 
midst of foes. He was confounded, and with his words 
recalled his step. 



Vergil's aeneid, book lU 43 

As one who, in his walk, hath trodden upon a snake 
unseen in the rough thorns, and in fearful haste hath 
started back from him, while he is collecting all his 
rage, and swelling his azure crest; just so Androgeos, 
terrified at the sight [of usj, began to withdraw. We rush 
in, and pour around with arms close joined, and knock 
them down here and there, strangers as they were to the 
place, and possessed with fear: fortune smiles upon our 
first enterprise. Upon this Coroebus, exulting with success 
and courage, cried out, My fellows, where fortune thus 
early points out our way to safety, and where she shows 
herself propitious, let us follow. Let us exchange shields, 
and fit to ourselves the badges of the Greeks: whether 
stratagem or valor, who questions in an enemy? they 
themselves will supply us with arms. This said, he puts 
on the crested helmet of Androgeos, and the rich ornament 
of his shield, and buckles to his side a Grecian sword. 
The same does Eipheus, the same does Dymas too, and all 
the youth well pleased : each arms himself with the recent 
spoils. We march on, mingling with the Greeks, but not 
with heaven on our side; and in many a skirmish we 
engage during the dark night: many of the Greeks we 
send down to Hades. Some flee to the ships, and seek the 
trusty shore in their flight ; some, through dishonest fear, 
scale once more the bulky horse, and lurk within the well- 
known womb. 

Alas ! on nothing ought man to presume, while the gods 
are against him ! Lo ! Cassandra, Priam's virgin daughter, 
with her hair dishevelled, was dragged along from the 
temple and shrine of Minerva, raising to heaven her glar- 
ing eyes in vain; her eyes— for cords bound her tender 
hands. Coroebus, in the madness of his soul, could not 
bear this spectacle, and, resolved to perish, threw himself 
into the midst of the band. We all follow, and rush 
upon them in close array. Upon this we are first over- 
powered with the darts of our friends from the high 
summit of the temple, and a most piteous slaughter ensues, 
through the appearance of our arms, and the disguise of 
our Grecian crests. Next the Greeks, through anguish 
and rage for the rescue of the virgin, fall upon us in troops 
from every quarter ; Ajax, most fierce, 



44 VERGIL*S AE1«"EID, BOOK 11. 

both the sons of Atreus, and the whole band of the 
Dolopes: as, at times, in a burst hurricane, opposite 
winds encounter, the west and south, and Eurus, proud 
of his eastern steeds; the woods creak, foaming Nereus 
rages with his trident, and rouses the seas from the 
lowest bottom. They, too, whom, through the shades, 
in the dusky night, we by stratagem had routed and 
driven all over the city, make their appearance; they 
are the first who discover our shields and counterfeit 
arms, and mark our voices in sound discordant with 
their own. In a moment we are overpowered by numbers ; 
and first Coroebus sinks in death by the hand of Peneleus, 
at the altar of the warrior-goddess : Eipheus, too falls, the 
most just among the Trojans, and of the strictest integrity ; 
but to the gods it seemed otherwise. Hypanis and Dymas 
die by the cruel darts of their own friends, nor did thy 
signal piety, no the fillets of Apollo, save thee, Pantheus, 
in thy dying hour. Ye ashes of Troy, ye expiring flames 
of my country! witness, that in your fall I shunned 
neither darts nor any deadly chances of the Greeks ; and, 
had it been fated that I should fall, I deserved it by my 
hand. Thence we are forced away, Iphitus, Pelias, and 
myself (of whom Iphitus was now unwieldly through age, 
and Pelias disabled by a wound from Ulysses), forthwith 
to Priam's palace called by the outcries. 

Here, indeed [we beheld], a dreadful fight, as though this 
had been the only seat of the war, as though none had been 
dying in all the city besides; with such ungoverned fury 
we see Mars raging and the Greeks rushing forward to the 
palace, and the gates besieged bj^ an advancing testudo. 
Scaling ladders are fixed against the walls, and by their 
steps they mount to the very door-posts, and protecting 
themselves by their left arms, oppose their bucklers to the 
darts, [while] with their right hands they grasp the battle- 
ments. On the other hand, the Trojans tear down the tur- 
rets and roofs of their houses; with these weapons, since 
they see the extremity, they seek to defend themselves now 
in their last death struggle and tumble down the gilded 
rafters, those stately ornaments of their ancestors: others 
with drawn swords beset the gates below ; these they guard 
in a firm, compact body. Our ardor is restored to relieve 
the royal palace, support our friends with aid, and impart 
fresh strength to the vanquished. 



Vergil's aeneid, book ii. 45 

There was a passage, a secret entry, a free communi- 
cation between the palaces of Priam, a neglected postern- 
gate, by which unfortunate Andromache, while the 
kingdom stood, was often wont to resort to her parents-in- 
law without retinue, and to lead the boy Astyanax to his 
grandsire. I mount up to the roof of the highest battle- 
ment, whence the distressed Trojans were hurling unavail- 
ing darts. With our swords assailing all around a turret, 
situated on a precipice, and shooting up its towering top to 
the stars (whence we were wont to survey all Troy, the 
fleet of Greece, and all the Grecian camp), where the top- 
most story made the joints more apt to give way, we tear 
it from its deep foundation, and push it on [our foes]. Sud- 
denly tumbling down, it brings thundering desolation with 
it, and falls with wide havoc on the Grecian troops. But 
others succeed : meanwhile, neither stones, nor any sort of 
missile weapons, cease to fly. 

Just before the vestibule, and at the outer, gate, Pyrrhus 
exults, glittering in arms and gleamy brass; as when a 
snake [comes forth] to light, having fed on noxious herbs, 
whom, bloated [with poison], the frozen winter hid under 
the earth, now renewed, and sleek with youth, after cast- 
ing his skin, with breast erect he rolls up his slippery back, 
reared to the sun, and brandishes a three-forked tongue in 
his mouth. At the same time bulky Periphas and Autom- 
edon, charioteer to Achilles [now Pyrrhus'], armor-bearer; 
at the same all the youth from Scyros advance to the wall, 
and toss brands to the roof. Pyrrhus himself in the front, 
snatching up a battle-axe, beats through the stubborn gates, 
and labors to tear the brazen posts from the hinges ; and 
now, having hewn away the bars, he dug through the firm 
boards, and made a large, wide-mouthed breach. The 
palace within is exposed to view, and the long galleries are 
discovered ; the sacred recesses of Priam and the ancient 
kings are exposed to view ; and they see armed men stand- 
ing at the gate. 

As for the inner palace, it is filled with mingled groans 
and doleful uproar, and the hollow rooms all throughout 
howl with female yells ; their shrieks strike the golden stars. 



46 Vergil's aeneid, book ii. 

Then the trembling matrons roam through the spacious 
halls, and in embraces hug the door-posts, and cling to 
them with their lips. Pyrrhus presses on with all his 
fathers violence; nor bolts, nor guards themselves, are 
able to sustain. The gate, by repeated battering blows, 
gives way, and the door-posts, torn from their hinges, 
tumble to the ground. The Greeks make their way by 
force, burst a passage, and, being admitted, butcher the 
first they meet, and fill the places all about with their 
troops. Not with such fury a river pours on the fields its 
heavy torrent, and sweeps away herds with their stalls 
over all the plains, when foaming it has burst away from 
its broken banks, and borne down opposing mounds with 
its whirling current. I myself beheld Neoptolemus raving 
with bloody rage, and the two sons of Atreus at the gate ; I 
beheld Hecuba, and her hundred daughters-in-law, and 
Priam at the altar, defiling with his blood the fires which 
he himself had consecrated. Those fifty bed-chambers, the 
so great hope of descendants, those doors, that proudly 
shone with barbaric gold and spoils, were levelled with the 
ground : where the flames relent, the Grreeks take place. 

Perhaps, too, you are curious to hear what was Priam's 
fate. As soon as he beheld the catastrophe of the taken city, 
and his palace-gates broken down, and the enemy planted 
in the middle of his private apartments, the aged monarch, 
with unavailing aim, buckles on his shoulders (trembling 
with years) arms long disused, girds himself with his use- 
less sword, and rushes into the thickest of the foes, resolute 
on death. In the center of the palace, and under the bare 
canopy of heaven, stood a large altar, and an aged laurel 
near it, overhanging the altar, and encircling the household 
gods with its shade. Here Hecuba and her daughters (like 
pigeons flying precipitantly from a blackening tempest) 
crowded together, and embracing the shrines of the gods, 
vainly sat round the altars. But as soon as she saw Priam 
clad in youthful arms, unhappy spouse, she cries. What 
dire purpose has prompted thee to brace on these arms ? or 
whither art thou hurrying? The present conjuncture hath 
no need of such aid, nor such defense: though even my 
Hector himself were here [it w^ould not avail]. Hither re- 
pair, now that all hope is lost; this altar will protect us all, 
or here you [and we J shall die together. Having thus said, 
she took the old man to her embraces, and placed hinaf on 
the sacred seat. 



Vergil's aekeid, book ii. 47 

But lo! Polites, one of Priam's sons, who had escaped 
from the sword of Pyrrhus, through darts, through foes, 
flees along the long galleries, and wounded traverses the 
waste halls. Pyrrhus, all on fire, pursues him with the 
hostile weapon, is just grasping hhn with his hand, and 
presses on him with the spear. Soon as he at length got 
into the sight and presence of his parents, he dropped down, 
and poured out his life with a stream of blood. Upon this, 
Priam, though now held in the very midst of death, yet 
did not forbear, nor spared his tongue and passion : But 
may the gods, he cries, if there be any justice in heaven to 
regard such events, give ample retribution and grant due 
reward for this wickedness, for these thy audacious crimes, 
to thee who hast made me to witness the death of my own 
son, and defiled a father's eyes with the sight of blood ; yet 
he from whom you falsely claim your birth, even Achilles 
was not thus barbarous to Priam, though his enemy, but 
paid some reverence to the laws of nations, and a suppli- 
ant's right, restored my Hector's lifeless corpse to be buried, 
and sent me back into my kingdom. Thus spoke the old 
man, and, without any force, threw a feeble dart : which 
was instantly repelled by the hoarse brass, and hung on the 
highest boss of the buckler without any execution. To 
whom Pyrrhus replies, These tidings then yourself shall 
bear, and go with the message to my father, the son of 
Peleus : forget not to inform him of my cruel deeds, and of 
his degenerate son Neoptolemus: now die. With these 
words he dragged him to the very altar, trembling and 
sliding in the streaming gore of his son : and with his left 
hand grasped his twisted hair, and with his right un- 
sheathed his glittering sword, and plunged it into his side 
up to the hilt. Such was the end of Priam's fate : this \vas 
the final doom allotted to him, having before his eyes Troy 
consumed, and its towers laid in ruins; once the proud 
monarch over so many nations and countries of Asia : now 
his mighty trunk lies extended on the shore, the head torn 
from the shoulders, and a nameless corpse. 

Then, and not till then, fierce horror assailed • me round : 
I stood aghast ; the image of my dear father arose to my 
mind, when I saw the king, of equal age, breathing out 



48 vergil's aeneid, book II. 

his soul by a cruel wound; Creiisa, forsaken, came into 
mind, my rifled house, and the fate of the little liilus. I 
look about and survey what troops were to stand by me. 
All had left me through despair, and flung their fainting 
bodies to the ground, or gave them to the flames. 

And thus now I remained all alone, when I espy Helen 
keeping watch in the temple of Vesta, and silently lurking 
in a secret corner : the bright flames give me light as I am 
roving on, and throwing my eyes around on every object. 
She, the common Fury of Troy and her country, dreading 
the Trojans, her deadly foes, upon account of their ruined 
country, and the vengeance of the Greeks, with the fierce 
resentment of her deserted lord, had hidden herself, and 
was sitting near the altars, an odious sight. Flames were 
kindled in my soul: rage possessed me to avenge my falling 
country, and take the vengeance her guilt deserved. Shall 
she then with impunity behold Sparta and her country 
Mycenae, and go off a queen, after she has gained her tri- 
umph? shall she see her marriage-bed, her home, her 
fathers, her sons, accompanied with a retinue of Trojan 
dames and Phrygian women her slaves? shall Priam have 
fallen by the sword, shall Troy have burned with the flame, 
shall the Trojan shore so often be drenched in blood? It 
must not be so : for though there be no memorable name in 
punishing a woman, nor any honor in such a victory, yet 
shall I be applauded for having extinguished a wicked 
wretch, and for inflicting on her the punishment she de- 
serves : besides, it will be a pleasure to gratify my desire of 
burning revenge, and to give satisfaction to the ashes of 
my friends. Thus was I rapidly reflecting, and furiously 
agitated in my soul, when my benign mother presented 
herself to my view with such brightness as I had never seen 
before, and amid the night shone forth in pure light, dis- 
playing all the goddess, with such dignity, such stature, 
as she is wont to show^ to the immortals: she restrained 
me fast held by the right hand, and besides, let fall these 
words from her rosy lips : My son, what high provocation 
kindles thy ungoverned rage? why art thou raving? or 
whither hast thy regard for me fled? Will you not first see 
in what situation you have left your father Anchises, en- 
cumbered with age? whether your spouse Creiisa be in life, 
6 



Vergil's aeisteid, book ii. 49 

and the boy Ascanius, around whom the Grecian troops 
from every quarter reel? and, unless my care oppose, 
the flames will have already carried off, and the cruel 
sword imbibed their blood. Not the features of Lace- 
daemonian Helen, odious in your eyes, nor Paris blamed; 
but the gods, the unrelenting gods, overthrow this 
powerful realm, and level the towering tops of Troy with 
the ground. Turn your eyes; for I will dissipate every 
cloud which now, intercepting the view, bedims your 
mortal sight, and spreads a humid veil of mist around 
you : fear not you the commands of a parent, nor refuse to 
obey her orders. Here, where you see scattered ruins, and 
stones torn from stones, and smoke in waves ascending 
with mingled dust, Neptune shakes the walls and founda- 
tions loosened by his mighty trident, and overturns the 
whole city from its basis. Here Juno, extremely fierce, is 
posted in the front to guard the Scaean gate, and girt with 
the sword, with furious summons calls from the ships her 
social band. Tritonian Pallas (see !) hath now planted her- 
self on a lofty turret, refulgent in a cloud, and with her 
Gorgon terrible. The Sire himself supplies the Greeks 
with courage and strength for victory: himself stirs up 
the gods against the arms of Troy. Speed thy flight, my 
son, and put a period to thy toils. In every danger I will 
stand by you, and safe set you down in your father's 
palace. She said, and hid herself in the thick shades of 
night. Direful forms appear, and the mighty powers of 
the gods, adverse to Troy. 

Then, indeed, all Ilium seemed to me at once to sink in 
the flames, and Troy, built by Neptune, to be overturned 
from its lowest foundation: even as when with emulous 
keenness the swains labor to fell an ash that long hath stood 
on a high mountain, hewing it about with iron and many 
an axe, ever and anon it threatens, and waving its locks, 
nods with its shaken top, till gradually by wounds sub- 
dued, it hath groaned its last, and torn from the ridge 
of the mountain, draws along with it ruin. Down I come, 
and under the conduct of the god, clear my way amid 
flames and foes; the darts give place, and the flames 
retire. 



50 VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK II. 

And now, when arrived at the gates of my paternal seat 
and ancient house, my father, whom I was desirous 
first to remove to the high mountains, and whom I first 
sought, obstinately refuses to prolong his life after the ruin 
of Troy, and to suffer exile. You, says he, who are full of 
youthful blood, and whose powers remain firm in all their 
strength, do you attempt your flight. As for me, had the 
powers of heaven designed I should prolong my hfe, they 
had preserved to me this house : enough it is, and more than 
enough, that I have seen one catastrophe, and outlived the 
taking of this city. Thus, oh leave me thus with the last 
farewell to my body laid in its dying posture. With this 
hand will I find death myself. The enemy will pity me, 
and lust for my spoils. Trivial is the loss of sepulture. I 
have long sinco been lingering out a length of years, hated 
by the gods, and useless from the time when the father of 
gods, and sovereign of men, blasted me with the winds 
of his thunder, and struck me with lightning. 

Such purpose declaring, he persisted, and remained 
unalterable. On the other hand, I, my wife Creiisa, 
Ascanius, and the whole family bursting forth into tears, 
[besought] my father not to involve all with himself, nor 
hasten our impending fate. He still refuses, and perseveres 
in his purpose, and in the same settled position. Once 
more I flee to my arms, and, in extremity of distress, long 
for death: for what expedient had I left, or what chance of 
hope? Could you hope, sire, that I could stir one foot 
while you Avere left behind? could such impiety drop from 
a parent's lips? If it is the will of the gods, that nothing of 
this great city be preserved ; if this be your settled purpose, 
and you will even involve yourself and yours in the wreck 
of Troy ; the way lies open to that death of which you are 
so fond. Forthwith Pyrrhus, [reeking] from the effusion of 
Priam's blood, will be here, who kills the son before the 
father's eyes, and then the father at the altar. Was it for 
this, my benign mother, you saved me through darts, 
through flames, to see the enemy in the midst of these 
recesses, and to see Ascanius, my father, and Creiisa by his 
side, butchered in one another's blood? Arms, my men, 
bring arms ; this day, which is our last, calls upon us, van- 
quished as we are. Give me back to the Greeks : let me 
visit once more the fight renewed : never shall we all die 
unrevenged this day. 



vehgil's aeneid, book II. 51 

Thus I again gird on my sword : and I thrust my left 
hand into my buckler, bracing it fitly on, and rushed out 
of the palace. But lo ! my wite clung to me in the thresh- 
old, grasping my feet, and held out to his father the little 
liilus: If, [says she,] you go with a resolution to perish, 
snatch us with you to share all : but if, from experience 
you repose confidence in those arms you have assumed, let 
this house have your first protection: To whom are you 
abandoning the tender liilus, your sire, and me once called 
your wife? 

Thus loudly expostulating, she filled the whole palace 
with her groans, when a sudden and wondrous prodigy 
arises; for amid the embraces and parting words of his 
mourning parents, lo! the fluttering tuft from the top of 
liilus' head is seen to emit light, and with gentle touch the 
lambent flame glides harmless along his hair, and feeds 
around his temples. We, quaking, trembled for fear, 
brush the blazing locks, and quench the holy fire with 
fountain-water. But father Anchises joyful raised his eyes 
to the stars, and stretched his hands to heaven with his 
voice ; Almighty Jove, if thou art moved with any suppli- 
cations, vouchsafe to regard us; we ask no more: and O 
sire, if by our piety we deserve it, grant us then thy aid, 
and ratify these omens. 

Scarcely had my aged sire thus said, when, with a sudden 
peal, it thundered on the left, and a star, that fell from the 
skies, drawling a fiery train, shot through the shade with a 
profusion of light. We could see it, gliding over the high 
tops of the palace, lose itself in the woods of Mount Ida, full 
in our view, and marking out the way : then all along its 
course an indented path shines, and all the place, a great 
way round, smokes with sulphureous steams. And now 
my father, overcome, raises himself to heaven, addresses 
the gods, and pays adoration to the holy star : Now, now is 
no delay : I am all submission, and where you lead the way 
I am with you. Ye gods of my fathers, save our family, 
save my grandson. From you this omen came, and Troy is 
at your disposal. Now, son, I resign myself indeed, nor 
refuse to accompany you in your expedition. 

He said, and now throughout the city the flames are 



52 veiigil's aeneid, book ii. 

more distinctly heard, and the conflagration rolls the tor- 
rents of fire nearer. Come then, dearest father, place your- 
self on my neck ; with these shoulders will I support you, 
nor shall that burden oppress me. However things fall out, 
we both shall share either one common danger or one preser- 
vation ; let the boy liiius be my companion, and my wife 
may trace my steps at some distance. Ye servants, heed- 
fully attend to what I say. In your way from the city is a 
rising ground, and an ancient temple of deserted Ceres; and 
near it an aged cypress, preserved for many years by the 
religious veneration of our forefathers. To this one seat by 
several ways w^e will repair. Do you, father, take in thy 
hand the sacred symbols, and the gods of our country. For 
me, just come from war, from so fierce and recent blood- 
shed, to touch them would be profanation, till I have puri- 
fied myself in the living stream. 

This said, I spread a garment and a tawny lion's hide 
over my broad shoulders and submissive neck; and stoop 
to the burden : little liilus is linked in my right hand, and 
trips after his father with unequal steps: my spouse 
comes up behind. We haste away through the gloomy 
paths: and I, whom lately no showers of darts could 
move, nor Greeks inclosing me in a hostile band, am 
now terrified with every breath of Avind; every sound 
alarms me anxious, and equally in dread for my companion 
and my burden. 

By this time I approached the gates, and thought I had 
overpassed all the way, when suddenly a thick sound of 
feet seems to invade my ears just at hand; and my father, 
stretching his eyes through the gloom, calls aloud, Mj^ son, 
flee, my son, they are upon you: I see the burnished shields 
and glittering brass. Here, in my consternation, some un- 
friendly deity or other confounded and bereaved me of my 
reason ; for while in my journey I traced the by-paths, and 
forsake the known beaten tracks, alas ! I know not whether 
my wife Creiisa snatched from wretched me by cruel fate, — 
stood still, or lost her way, or through fatigue sat down ; 
nor did these eyes ever see her more. 



Vergil's aeneid, book ii. 53 

Nor did I observe that she was lost, or reflect with myself, 
till we were come to the rising ground, and the sacred seat 
of ancient Ceres: here, at length, when all were convened, 
she alone was wanting, and gave disappointment to all 
our retinue, especially to her son and husband. Whom 
did I frantic not accuse, of gods or men? or of what more 
cruel scene was I a spectator in all the desolation of the 
city? To my friends I commended Ascanius, my father 
Anchises, with the gods of Troy, and lodge them secretly 
in a winding valley. I myself repair back to the city, 
and brace on my shining ai'mor. I am resolved to renew 
every adventure, revisit all the quarters of Troy, and 
expose my life once more to all dangers. 

First of all, I return to the walls, and the dark entry of 
the gate by which I had set out, and backward unravel 
my steps with care amid the darkness, and run them over 
with my eye. Horror on all sides, and at the same time 
the very silence affrights my soul. Thence homeward I 
bent my way, lest by chance, by any chance, she had 
moved thither: the Greeks had now rushed in, and were 
masters of the whole house. In a moment the devour- 
ing conflagration is rolled up in sheets by the wind to 
the lofty roof; the flames mount above; the fiery whirl- 
wind rages to the skies. I advance, and revisit Priam's 
royal seat, and the citadel. And now in the desolate 
cloisters, Juno's sanctuary. Phoenix and the execrable 
Ulysses, a chosen guard, were watching the booty: hither, 
from all quarters, the precious Trojan movables, saved 
from the conflagration of the temples, the tables of the 
gods, the massy golden goblets, and plundered vestments, 
are amassed : boys, and timorous matrons, stand all around 
in a long train. 

Now adventuring even to dart my voice through the 
shades, I filled the streets with outcry, and in anguish, 
with vain repetition, again and again, called on Crelisa. 
While I was in this search, and with incessant fury rag- 
ing through all quarters of the town, the mournful ghost 
and shade of my Creiisa's self appeared before my eyes, her 
figure larger than i had known it. I stood aghast! my 
hair rose on end, and my voice clung to my jaws. Then 
thus she bespeaks me, and relieves my cares with these 
words: My darling spouse, what pleasure have you thus to 
indulge in grief which is but madness? 



54 VEKGlL'iJ AE^s^ElD, BOOK II. 

These events do not occur without the will of the goda 
It is not allowed you to carry Creiisa hence to accompany 
you, nor is it permitted by yonder ruler of heaven 
supreme. In long banishment you nmst roam, and plow 
the vast expanse of the ocean : to the land of Hesperia you 
shall come, where the Lydian Tiber, with his gentle cur- 
rent, glides through a rich land of heroes. There, pros- 
perous state, a crown, and royal spouse, await you: dry 
up your tears for your beloved Creiisa. I, of Dardanus' 
noble line, and the daughter-in-law of divine Venus, shall 
not see the proud seats of the Myrmidons and Dolopes, nor 
go to serve the Grecian dames; but the great mother of 
the gods detains me upon these coasts. And now fare- 
well, and preserve your affection to our common son. 
With these words she left me in tears, ready to say many 
things, and vanished into thin air. There thrice I at- 
tempted to throw my arms around her neck; thrice the 
phantom, grasped in vain, escaped my hold, swift as the 
winged winds, and resembling most a fleeting dream. 

Thus having spent the night, I at length revisit my asso- 
ciates. And here, to my surprise, I found a great confluence 
of new companions : matrons, and men, and youths, drawn 
together to share our exile, a piteous throng ! From all sides 
they convened, resolute [to follow me] with their souls and 
fortunes, and whatever country I was inclined to conduct 
them over the sea. By this time, the bright morning star 
was rising on the craggy tops of lofty Ida, and ushered in 
the day : the Greeks held the entrance of the gates blocked 
up; nor had we any prospect of relief. I gave way, and 
bearing up my father, made toward the mountain. 



BOOK THIRD. 

SYNOPSIS. 
THE STORY OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WANDERING. 

Aeneas having finished his account of the sack of Troy, 
relates to Dido the particulars of his voyage. With a fleet 
of twenty ships he set sail, landing on the shores of Thrace, 
where he commenced to build a city which he called Aenos. 
In this work, however, he was soon interrupted by the 
shade of Polydorus, which directed him to leave the pol- 
luted land. 

Having performed funeral rites to Polydorus, he di- 
rected his course to the south, arriving on the coast of 
Delos. Here Anius, king of the island and priest of 
Apollo, hospitably received him. Having been directed bj'' 
the oracle to seek the land of his ancestors, he concluded 
that Crete was the place indicated. 

They leave Delos and in a short time reach the shores of 
Crete. Here Aeneas lays the foundation of a city which he 
calls Pergama, when suddenly a plague arises which car- 
ries off many of his companions. It is agreed that he 
should revisit Delos for further instructions, but in a vision 
he is informed that the oracle of Apollo intended that he 
should seek Italy, the land of Dardanus. 

Aeneas immediately leaves Crete and in a few days 
arrives on the coast of the Strophades. 

Leaving these islands, he sails westward and soon arrives 
on the coast of Epirus. He lands at Actium where the 
Trojan games are celebrated. 

From xlctium he proceeds to Chaonia, where he learns 
that Helenus, the son of Priatn, sat on the throne of 
Pyrrhus, and that Andromache had become his wife. 
Wishing to hear the truth of this report, he visits Buth- 
rotus, the seat of government, where he finds his friends 
and on his departure, is loaded with presents. 

From Epirus, Aeneas crosses the Ionian sea, and arrives 
at the promontory lapygium. He then sails along the coast 
of Magna Graecia and the eastern shore of Sicily to the 
promontory Pachynum ; thence along the southern shore 
to Drepanum, where his father Anchises died. 



THE 

AENEID 

CF 

P. VERGILIUS MARO. 



BOOK III. 



After it had seemed fit to the gods to overthrow the 
power of Asia, and Priam's race, undeserving [of such a 
fate], and stately Ilium fell, and while the whole of Troy, 
built by Neptune, smokes on the ground; we are deter- 
mined, by revelations from the gods, to go in quest of 
distant retreats in exile, and unpeopled lands ; we fit out a 
fleet just under the walls of Antandros and the mountains 
of Phrygian Ida; and draw our forces together, uncertain 
whither the Fates point our way, where it shall be given 
us to settle. Scarcely had the first summer begun, when 
my father Ancbises gave command to hoist the sails, in 
accordance with the Fates. Then with tears I leave the 
shores and ports of my country, and the plains where Troy 
once stood : an exile I launch forth into the deep, with my 
associates, my son, my household gods, and the great gods 
[of my country]. 

At a distance lies a martial land, peopled throughout its 
wide-extended plains (the Thracians cultivate the soil), 
over which in former times fierce Lycurgus reigned: an 
ancient hospitable retreat for Troy, and whose gods were 
leagued with ours, while fortune was with us. Hither I 
am carried, and erect my first walls along the winding 
shore, entering with Fates unkind; and from my own 
name I call the citizens Aeneades. 

I was performing sacred rites to my mother Venus, and 
the gods, tLe patrons of my works begun; and to the ex- 

7 



Vergil's aen^eid, book hi. 57 

alted king of the immortals I was sacrificing a sleek bull 
on the shore. Near at hand there chanced to be a rising- 
ground, on whose top were young cornel-trees, and a myrtle 
rough with thick spear-like branches. I came up to it, 
and attempting to tear from the earth the verdant wood, 
that I might cover the altars with the leafy boughs, I ob- 
serve a dreadful prodigy, and wondrous to relate. For 
from that tree which first is torn from the soil, its rooted 
fibers being burst asunder, drops of black blood distill, and 
stain the ground with gore : cold terror shakes my limbs, 
and my chill blood is congealed with fear. I again essay to 
tear off a limber bough from another, and thoroughly 
explore the latent cause : and from the rind of that other 
the purple blood descends. Eaising in my mind many an 
anxious thought, I with reverence besought the rural 
nymphs, and father Mars, who presides over the Thracian 
territories, kindly to prosper the vision and avert evil from 
the omen. But when I attempted the boughs a third time 
with a more vigorous effort, and on my knees struggled 
against the opposing mold (shall I speak, or shall I for- 
bear?) a piteous groan is heard from the bottom of the rising 
ground, and a voice sent forth reaches my ears: Aeneas, 
why dost thou tear an unhappy wretch? Spare me, now 
that I am in my grave ; forbear to pollute with guilt thy 
pious hands: Troy brought me forth no stranger to you; 
nor is it from the trunk this blood distills. Ah, flee this 
barbarous land, flee the avaricious shore! For Polydorus 
am I : here an iron crop of darts hath overwhelmed me, 
transfixed, and over me shot up in pointed javelins. 

Then, indeed, depressed at heart with perplexing fear, 
I was stunned; my hair stood on end, and my voice 
clung to my jaws. This Polydorus, unhappy Priam had 
formerly sent in secrecy, with a great weight of gold, 
to be brought up by the king of Thrace, when he now 
began to distrust the arms of Troy, and saAv the city 
with close siege blocked up. He, as soon as the power 
of the Trojans was crushed, and their fortune gone, 
espousing Agamemnon's interest and victorious arms, 
breaks every sacred bond, assassinates Polydorus, and by 
violence possesses his gold, — to what dost thou not drive 
the hearts of men ! 



58 Vergil's aeneid, book in. 

Cursed thirst of gold! After fear left my bones, I 
report the portents of the gods to the chosen leaders 
of the people, and chiefly to my father, and demand 
wliat their opinion is. All are unanimous to quit 
that accursed land, abandon the polluted society, and 
spread the sails to the winds. Therefore we renew funeral 
ceremonies to Polydorus, and a large mound of earth is 
heaped up for the tomb : an altar is reared to his manes, 
mournfully decked with leaden-colored wreaths and gloomy 
cypress; and round it the Trojan matrons stand with hair 
disheveled, according to custom. We offer the sacrifices 
of the dead, bowls foaming with warm milk, and goblets of 
the sacred blood : we give the soul repose in the grave, and 
with loud voice address to him the last farewell. 

This done, when first we durst confide in the main, when 
the winds present peaceful seas, and the south wind in soft 
whispering gales invites us to the deep, my mates launch 
the ships and crowd the shore. We are wafted from the 
port, and the land and cities retreat. Amid the sea there 
lies a charming spot of land, sacred to [Doris] (the mother 
of the Nereids), and Aegean Neptune; which once wander- 
ing about the coasts and shores, the pious ggd who wields 
the bow fast bound from lofty Myconos and G-yaros, and 
fixed it so as to be habitable, and mock the winds. Hither 
I am led: this most peaceful island receives us to a safe 
port after our fatigue. At landing we pay veneration to 
the city of Apollo. King Anius, both king of men and 
priest of Phoebus, his temples bound with fillets and sacred 
laurel, comes up, and presently recognizes his old friend 
Anchises. We join right hands in amity, and come under 
his roof. 

I venerated the temple of the god, a structure of 
ancient stone [and thus began] : Thymbrsean Apollo, grant 
us, after all our toils, some fixed mansion ; grant us weary 
walls of defense, offspring, and a permanent city : preserve 
those other towers of Troy, a remnant left by the Greeks 
and merciless Achilles. Whom are we to follow; or 
whither dost thou bid us go? M^here fix our residence? 
Father, grant us a prophetic sign, and glide into our 
minds. 



VERGIL*S AENEID, BOOK III. 69 

Scarcely had I thus said, when suddenly all seemed to trem- 
ble, both the temple itself, and laurel of the god; the 
whole mountain quaked around, and the sanctuary being 
exposed to view, the tripod moaned. In humble reverence 
we fall to the ground, and a voice reaches our ears: 
Ye hardy sons of Dardanus, the same land which first 
produced you from your father's stock, shall receive 
you in its fertile bosom after all your dangers; search 
out your ancient mother. There the family of Aeneas 
shall rule over every coast, and his children's children, 
and they who from them shall spring. Thus Phoebus. 
Emotions of great joy, with mmgled tumult, arose; and 
all were seeking to know what city is designed; 
whither Phoebus calls us wandering, and wills us to re- 
turn. Then my father, revolving the historical records of 
ancient heroes, says. Ye leaders, give ear, and learn what 
you have to hope for. In the middle of the sea lies Crete, 
the island of mighty Jupitei', where is Mount Ida, and the 
nursery of our race. The Cretans inhabit a hundred 
mighty cities, most fertile realms: whence our mighty 
ancestor Teucrus, if I rightly remember the tradition, first 
arrived on the Rhoetean coasts, and chose the seat of his 
kingdom. No Ilium then nor towers of Pergamus were 
raised; in the deep vales they dwelt. Hence came the 
mother (of the gods) inhabitant of Cybele, and the brazen 
cymbals of the Corybantes, and the Idseaii grove; hence 
that faithful secrecy in her sacred rites: and harnessed 
lions were yoked in the chariot of her queen. Come, then, 
and, where the commands of the gods point out our way, 
let us follow; let us appease the winds, and seek the 
Gnossian realms. Nor lie they at the distance of a long 
voyage: provided Jove be with us, the third day will land 
our fleet on the Cretan coast. This said, he offered the 
proper sacrifices on the altars, a bull to Neptune, a bull 
to thee, O fair Apollo: a black sheep to the Winter, and 
a white one to the propitious zephyrs. 

A report flies abroad, that leader Idomeneus ban- 
ished, hath quitted his paternal kingdom, and that the 
shore of Crete is deserted ; that its mansions are free from 
the enemy, and palaces stand forsaken. We leave the port 
of Ortygia, and scud along the sea : 



60 Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 

we cruise along Naxos (on whose mountains the Bac- 
chanals revel), green Donysa, Olearos, snowy Pares, 
and the Cyclades scattered up and down the main, 
and narrow seas thick-sown with clustered islands. 
With various emulation the seamen's shouts arise. 
The crew animate one another: For Crete and our an- 
cestors let us speed our course. A wind springing up 
astern, accompanies us on our way, and we at length skim 
along to the ancient seats of the Curetes. Therefore, with 
eagerness, I raise the walls of the so-much-wished-for city, 
and call it the city of Pergamus ; and I exhort my colony, 
pleased with the name, to love their hearths, and erect 
turrets on their roofs. And now the ships were mostly 
drawn up on the dry beach: the youth were engaged in 
their nuptials and new settlements: I was beginning to 
dispense laws and appropriate houses; when suddenly, 
from the infection of the climate, a wasting and lamentable 
plague seized our limbs, the trees, and corn ; and the year 
was pregnant with death. Men left their sweet lives, or 
dragged along theii' sickly bodies:, at the same time the 
dog-star burned up the barren fields: the herbs Avere 
parched and the unwholesome grain denied us sustenance. 
My father advises, that, measuring back the sea, we again 
apply to the oracle of Ortygia, and Apollo, and implore his 
grace, [to know] what end he will bring to our forlorn 
state; whence he will bid us attempt a redress of our 
calamities, whither turn our course. 

It was night, and sleep reigned over all the animal 
world. The sacred images of the gods, ancJ the tutelar 
deities of Phrygia, whom I had brought with me from 
Troy and the midst of the flames of the city, were seen to 
stand before eyes of myself lying awake, conspicuous by a 
glare of light, where the full moon darted her beams 
through the inserted windows. Then they thus [seemed 
to] address me, and dispel my cares with these words: 
What Apollo would announce to you, were you Avafted to 
Ortygia, he here reveals, and lo! unasked, he sends us to 
your dwelling. We, after Troy was consumed, followed 
thee and thy arms ; under thy conduct we have crossed the 
swelling sea in ships ; we, too, will exalt thy future race to 
heaven, and give imperial power to thy city. Do thou 
prepare walls mighty for mighty inhabitants, and shrink 
not from the long labors of thy voyage. 



Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 61 

You must change your place of residence : these are not the 
shores that Dehan Apollo advises for you ; nor was it in Crete 
he commanded you to settle. There is a place (the Greeks 
call it Hesperia by name), an ancient country, powerful in 
arms and rich in the fertility of its soil: the CEnotrians 
peopled it once ; now there is a report, that their descend- 
ants have called the nation Italy, from the founder's name. 
These are our proper settlements : hence Dardanus sprang, 
and father lasius, from which prince our race is derived. 
Haste, arise, and with joy report to thy aged sire these 
intimations of unquestionable credibility: let him search 
out Corythus and the Ausonian lands; Jupiter forbids thee 
the Cretan territories. Astonished by this vision and 
declaration of the gods (nor was that sleep, but me- 
thought I clearly discerned their aspect before me, their 
fillet- bound locks, and their forms full in my view ; then a 
cold sweat flowed over my whole body) ; I snatch mj^ 
frame from the couch, and lift up my hand supine to 
heaven with my voice, and pour hallowed offerings on the 
fires. Having finished the sacrifice, with joy I certify 
Anchises, and disclose the fact in order. He recognized 
the double stock, and the double founders [of the Trojan 
race], and that he had been deceived by a modern mistake 
respecting ancient countries; then he thus bespeaks me: 
My son, practiced in woe by the fates of Troy, Cassandra 
alone predicted to me that such was to be our fortune. 
Now I recollect that she foretold this should be the des- 
tiny of our race, and that she often 'spoke of Hesperia, 
often of the realms of Italy. But who could believe that 
the Trojans were to come to the Hesperian- shore? or 
whom then did the prophetic Cassandra influence? Let us 
resign ourselves to Phoebus, and, since we are better ad- 
vised, let us follow. He said; and exulting, we all obey 
his orders. This realm we likewise quit, and, leaving a 
few behind, unfurl our sails, and bound over the spacious 
sea in our hollow barks. 

When the ships held possession of the deep, and no land 
is any longer in view, sky all around, and ocean all around ; 
then an azure rain-cloud stood over my head, bringing on 
night and wintry storm; the waves grew rough in the 
gloom; immediately the winds overturn the sea, and 
mighty surges rise : 



02 VERGIL S AENEID, BOOK III, 

we are tossed to and fro on the face of the boiling 
deep : clouds enwrapped the day, and humid night 
snatched the heavens [from our view]; from the burst- 
ing clouds flashes of lightning redouble. We are driven 
from our course, and wander in unknown waves. Pali- 
nurus himself owns he is unable to distinguish day and 
night by the sky, and that he has forgotten his course in 
the mid sea. Thus for three days, that could hardly be 
distinguished by reason of the dark clouds, as many star- 
less nights, we wander up and down the ocean. At length, 
on the fourth day, land was first seen to rise, to disclose 
the mountains from afar, and roll up smoke: the sails are 
lowered, we ply hard the oars; instantly the seamen, 
w^ith exerted vigor, toss up the foam, and sweep the azure 
deep. 

The shores of the Strophades first receive me rescued' 
from the waves. The Strophades, so called by a Greek 
name, are islands situated in the great Ionian Sea ; which 
direful Celseno and the other Harpies inhabit, from what 
time Phineus' palace was closed against them, and they 
were frighted from his table, which they formerly- haunted. 
No monster more fell than they, no plague and scourge of 
the gods more cruel, ever issued from the Stygian waves. 
They are fowls with virgin faces, most loathsome is their 
bodily discharge, hands hooked, and looks ever pale with 
famine. Hither conveyed, a.s soon as we entered the port, 
lo! we observe joyous herds of cattle roving up and 
down the plains, and flocks of goats along the meadows 
without a keeper. We rush upon them with our swords, 
and invoke the gods and Jove himself to share the booty. 
Then along the winding shore we raise the couches, and 
feast on the rich repast. But suddenly, with direful swoop, 
the Harpies are upon us from the mountains, shake their 
wings with loud din, prey upon our banquet, and defile 
everything with their foul touch: at the same time, 
together with a rank smell, hideous screams arise. Again 
we spread our tables in a long recess, under a shelving 
rock, inclosed around with trees and gloomy shade; and 
once more we plant fire on the altar. 



VERGIL^S AENtelD, BOOK III. G3 

Again the noisy crowd, from a different quarter of 
the sky, and obscure retreats, flutter around the 
prey with hooked claws, and taint our viands with 
their mouths. Then I enjoin my companions to take 
arms, and wage war with the horrid race. They do 
no otherwise than bidden, dispose their swords secretly 
among the grass, and conceal their shields out of 
sight. Therefore, as soon as stooping down they raised 
their screaming voices along the bending shores, Misenus 
with his hollow trumpet of brass gives the signal from a 
lofty place of observation : my friends set upon them, and 
engage in a new kind of fight, to employ the sword in 
destroying obscene sea-fowls. But they neither suffer any 
violence on their plumes, nor wounds in the body; and, 
mounting up in the air with rapid flight, leave behind 
them their half -eaten prey, and the ugly prints of their feet. 
Celseno alone alighted on a high rock, the prophetess of 
ill, and from her breast burst forth these words: War too, 
ye sons of Laomedon, is it your purpose to make war for 
our oxen which you have slain, for the liavoc you have 
made upon our bullocks, and to banish the innocent Harpies 
from their hereditary kingdom? Lend them an ear, and in 
your minds fix these my w^ords: what the almighty Sire 
revealed to Phoebus, Phoebus Apollo to me, I the chief of 
the furies disclose to you. To Italj' you steer your course, 
and Italy you shall reach after repeated invocations to the 
winds, and you shall be permitted to enter the port: but 
you shall not surround the given city with walls, till 
dire famine and disaster, for shedding our blood, compel 
you first to gnaw around and eat up your tables with your 
teeth. She said, and on her wings upborne flew into the 
wood. As for my companions, their blood, chilled Avilh 
sudden fear, stagnated : their minds sunk : and now they are 
no longer for arms, but urge me to solicit peace by vows 
and prayers, whether they be goddesses, or cursed and 
inauspicious birds. My father Anchises, with hands spread 
forth from the shore, invokes the great gods, and enjoins 
due honors to be paid them: Ye gods, ward off these 
threatemngs ; ye gods, avert so great a calamity ; and pro- 
pitious save your pious votaries. Then he orders to tear 
the ropes from the shore, loose and disengage the cables. 
The south winds stretch our sails : we fly over the foaming 
waves, where the wind and pilot urged our course. 



64 VERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK III. 

Now aniid the waves appear woody Zaeynthos, Dulichium, 
Same, and Neritos, with its steep rocks. We shun the 
cliffs of Ithaca, Laertes' reahns, and curse the land that 
bred the cruel Ulysses. Soon after this the cloudy tops of 
Mount Leucate, and [the temple of] Apollo, the dread of 
seamen, open to our vievv^. Hither we steer our course 
oppressed with toil, and approach the little citj^. The 
anchor is thrown out from the prow : the ships are ranged 
on the shore. 

Thus at length possessed of wished-for land, we both per- 
form a lustral sacrifice to Jupiter, and kindle the altai*s 
in order to perform our vows, and signalize the promontory 
of Actium by celebrating the Trojan games. Our crew, 
having their naked limbs besmeared with slippery oil, 
exercise the wrestling matches of their country: it de- 
lights us to have escaped so many Grecian cities and 
pursued our voyage through the midst of our enemies. 
Meanwhile the sun finishes the revolution of the great 
year, and frosty winter exasperates the waves with the 
north winds. On the front door-posts [of the temple] I set 
up a buckler of hollow brass, which mighty' Abas wore, 
and notify the action by this verse : ' ' These arms Aeneas 
[won] from the victorious Greeks." Then I ordered [our 
crew] to leave the port, and take their seats on the benches. 
They with emulous ardor lash the sea, and sweep the 
waves. In an instant we lose sight of the airy towers of 
the Phaeacians, cruise along the coast of Epirus, and enter 
the Chaonian port, and approach the lofty city of Buth- 
rotus. 



Here a report of facts scarce credible invades our 
ears that Helenus, Priam's son, was reigning over 
Grecian cities, possessed of the spouse and scepter of 
Pyrrhus, the grandchild of Aeacus, and that Androm- 
ache had again fallen to a lord of her own country. 
I was amazed, and my bosom glowed with strange 
desire to greet the hero, and learn so signal revolu- 
tions of fortune. I set forward from the port, leaving the 
fleet and shore. Andromache, as it chanced, was then 
offering to [Hector's] ashes her anniversary feast and 
mournful oblations before the city in a grove, near the 
stream of the fictitious Simois, and invoked the manes 
8 



Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 65 

at Hector's tomb; which, empty, she had conse- 
crated of green turf, and two altars, incentives to 
her grief. As soon as she saw me coming up, and to 
her amazement beheld the Trojan arms around me, 
terrified with a prodigy so great, she stiffened at the 
very sight; vital warmth forsook her limbs: she sinks 
down, and at length, after a long interval, with faltering 
accent speaks: Goddess-born, do you present yourself to 
me a real form, a real messenger? Do you live? or, if from 
you the benignant light has fled, where is Hector? She 
said, and shed a flood of tears, filling all the place with 
cries. To her, in this transport, I with difficulty make 
even a brief reply, and in great perturbation open my 
mouth in these few broken words : I am alive indeed, and 
spin out life through all extremes. Doubt not; for all you 
see is real. Ah! what accidents of life have overtaken 
you, since you were thrown down from [the possession of] 
your illustrious lord? or what fortune, some way suited to 
your merit, hath visited you once more? Is then Hector's 
Andromache bound in wedlock to Pyrrhus? Downward 
she cast her eyes, and thus in humble accents [spoke] : 
happy, singularly happy, the fate of Priam's virgin- 
daughter, who, compelled to die at the enemy's tomb 
under the lofty walls of Troy, suffered not in having any 
lots cast for her, nor as a captive ever touched the bed of 
a victor lord! ' We, after the burning of our country, 
being transported over various seas, having brought forth 
children in slavery, have endured the insolence of Achilles' 
heir, and a haughty, imperious youth; who afterward, 
attaching , himself to Hermione, the granddaughter of 
Leda, and a Lacedsemonian match, delivered me over a 
slave, into the possession of a slave, Helenus. But Orestes, 
inflamed by the violence of love to his betrothed snatched 
from him, and hurried on by the Furies of his crimes, sur- 
prises him in an unguarded hour, and assassinates him at 
his paternal altar. By the death of Neoptolemus, a pai't 
of his kingdom fell to Helenus; who denominated the 
plains Chaonian, and the whole country Chaonia, from the 
Trojan Chaon, and built on the mountains [another] Per- 
gamus and this Trojan fort. But what winds, what fates, 
have guided your course? or what god hath landed you on 
our coasts without your knowledge? What is become of 
the boy Ascanius? Lives he still, and breathes the vital 
air? whom to your care, when Troy was — Has the boy 
now any concern for the loss of his mother? 



66 Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 

Is he incited, by both his father Aeneas and his uncle Hector, 
to ancient valor and manly courage? Thus bathed in tears 
she spoke, and heaved long, unavailing sobs; when the hero 
Helenus, Priam's son, advances from the city with a numer- 
ous retinue, knows his friends, with joy conducts them to his 
palace, and sheds tears in abundance between each word. 
I set forward, and survey the little Troy, the castle of Per- 
gamus resembling the great original, and a scanty rivulet 
bearing the name of Xanthus ; and I embrace the threshold 
of a Scaean gate. The Trojans too, at the same time, enjoy 
the friendly city. The king entertained them in his spac- 
ious galleries. In the midst of the court they quaffed 
brimmers of wine, while the banquet was served in gold, 
and each stood with a goblet in his hand. 

And now one day, and a second, passed on, when the 
gales invite our sails, and the canvas bellies by the swell- 
ing south wind. In these words I accost the prophet, 
[Helenus,] and question him thus: Son of Troy, interpre- 
ter of the gods, who knowest the divine will of Phoebus, 
the tripods, the laurels of the Clarian god; who knowest 
the stars, the ominous sounds of birds, and the prognostics 
of the swift wing, come, declare, (for [hitherto the omens 
of] religion have pronounced my whole voyage to be pros- 
perous, and all the gods, by their divine will, have directed 
me to go in pursuit of Italy, and attempt a settlement in 
lands remote : The Harpy Celaeno alone predicts a prodigy 
strange and horrible to relate, and denounces direful ven- 
geance and foul famine) what are the principal dangers I 
am to shun? or by the pursuit of what means may I sur- 
mount toils so great? Upon this Helenus first solicits the 
peace of the gods by sacrificing bullocks in due form, then 
unbinds the fillets of his consecrated head, and himself 
leads me by the hand to thy temple, O Phoebus, anxious 
with great awe of the god ; then the priest, from his lips 
divine, delivers these predictions : 



Goddess-born (for that you steer through the deep 
under some higher auspices, is unquestionably evident; 
so the sovereign of the gods dispenses his decree; 
thus he fixes the series of revolving events; such 
a scheme of things is coming to its accomplishment), 



Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 67 

that you may with greater safety cross the seas to 
which you are a stranger, and settle in the Ausonian 
port, I will unfold to you in words a few particulars 
of many; for the Destinies prevent Helenus from know- 
ing the rest, and Saturnian Juno forbids him to reveal 
it. First of all, a long intricate voyage, with a length 
of lands, divides [you from] Italy, which you unwittingly 
deem already near, and whose ports you are preparing to 
enter, as if just at hand. You must both ply the bending 
oar in the Trinacrian wave, and visit with your fleet the 
plains of the Ausonian Sea, the infernal lakes, and the isle of 
Aeaean Circe, before you can build a city in a quiet, peaceful 
land. I will declare the signs to you: do you keep them 
treasured up in your mind. When, thoughtfully musing 
by the streams of the secret river, you shall find a large sow 
that has brought forth a litter of thirty young, reclining on 
the ground, under the holms that shade the banks, white 
[the dam], the offspring white around her dugs: that shall 
be the station of the city ; there is the period fixed to thy 
labors. Nor be disturbed at the future event of eating 
your tables: the Fates will find out an expedient, and 
Apollo invoked will befriend you. But shun those coasts, 
and those nearest limits of the Italian shore, which are 
washed by the tide of our sea : all those cities are inhabited 
by the mischievous Greeks. Here the Narycian Locrians 
have raised their walls, and Lyctian Idomeneus with his 
troops has possessed the Sallentine plains; here stands that 
little city Petilia, defended by the walls of Philoctetes the. 
Meliboean chief. [Remember] also (when your fleet, hav- 
ing crossed the seas, shall come to a station, and you shall 
pay your vows at the altar raised on the shore) to cover 
your head, muffling yourself in a purple veil, lest the face 
of an enemy, amid the sacred fires in honor of the gods, 
appear, and disturb the omens. This custom, in sacrifice, 
let your friends, this yourself observe ; to this religious in- 
stitution let your pious descendants adhere. But when, after 
setting out, the wind shall waft you to the Sicilian coast, 
and the straits of narrow Pelorus shall open wider to the 
eye, veer to the land on the left, and to the sea on the left, 
by a long circuit ; flee the right both sea and shore. 



68 Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 

These lands, they say, once with violence and vast desolation 
convulsed, (such revolutions a long course of time is able 
to produce), slipped asunder; when in continuity both lands 
were one, the sea rushed impetu'ously between, and by its 
waves tore the Italian side from that of Sicily ; and with a 
narrow frith runs between the fields and cities separated by 
the shores. Scylla guards the right side, implacable Cha- 
rybdis the left, and thrice with the deepest eddies of its gulf 
swallows up the vast billows, headlong in, and again spouts 
them out by turns high into the air, and lashes the stars 
with the waves. But Scylla a cave confines within its dark 
recesses, reaching forth her jaws, and sucking in vessels 
upon the rocks. First she presents a human form, a lovely 
virgin down to the middle ; her lower parts are those of a 
hideous sea-monster, with the tails of dolphins joined to the 
wombs of wolves. It is better with delay to coast round 
the extremities of Sicilian Pachynus, and steer a long wind- 
ing course, than once to behold the misshapen Scylla under 
her capacious den, and those rocks that roar with her sea- 
green dogs. Further, if Helenus has any skiU, if any 
credit is due to him as a prophet, if Apollo stores his mind 
with truth, I will give you this one previous admonition, 
this one, O goddess-born, above all the rest, and repeating 
I will inculcate it upon you again and again : Be sure you, 
in the first place, with supplications worship great Juno's 
divinity ; to Juno cheerfully address your vows, and over- 
come the powerful queen with humble offerings: thus, at 
length, leaving Trinacria, you shall be dismissed victorious 
to the territories of Italy. When, wafted thither, you 
reach the city Cumae, the hallowed lakes, and Avernus 
resounding through the woods, you will see the raving 
prophetess, who, beneath a deep rock, reveals the fates, 
and commits to the leaves of trees her characters and 
words. Whatever verses the virgin has inscribed on the 
leaves, she ranges in harmonious order, and leaves in the 
cave inclosed by themselves: uncovered they remain in 
their position, nor recede from their order. * But when, 
upon turning the hinge, a small breath of wind has blown 
upon them, and the door [by opening] has discomposed 
the tender leaves, she never afterward cares to catch the 
verses as they ai-e fluttering in the hollow cave, 



Vergil's ae;n^eid, book iit. 69 

nor to recover their situation, or join them together. Men 
depart without a response, and detest the Sibyl's grot. " Let 
not the loss of some time there seem of such consequence to 
you (though your friends chide, and your voyage strongly 
invite your sails into the deep, and you may have an op- 
portunity to fill the bellying canvas with a prosperous 
gale), as to hinder you from visiting the prophetess, and 
earnestly entreating her to deliver the oracles herself, and 
vouchsafe to open her lips in vocal accents. She will de- 
clare to you the Italian nations, and your future wars, and 
by what means you may shun or sustain each hardship ; 
and, with reverence addressed, will give you a successful 
voyage. These are all the instructions I am at liberty to 
give you. Go then, and by your achievements raise 
mighty Troy to heaven. 

Which words when the prophet had thus with friendly 
voice pronounced, he next orders presents to be carried to 
the ships, heavy with gold and ivory ; and within the sides 
of my vessel stows a large quantity of silver plate, and 
caldrons of Dodonean brass, a mail thick set with rings, 
and wrought in gold of triple tissue, together with the 
cone and waving crest of a shining helmet, arms which 
belonged to Neoptolemus: my father too has proper gifts 
conferred on him. He gives us horses besides, and gives 
us guides. He supplies us with rowers, and at the same 
time furnishes our crew with arms. 

Meanwhile Anchises gave orders to equip our fleet with 
sails, that we might not be late for the favoring gale. 
Whom the interpreter of Apollo accosts with much respect : 
Anchises, honored with the illustrious bed of Venus, thou 
care of the gods, twice snatched from the ruins of Troy, lo! 
there the coast of Ausonia lies before you; thither speed 
your way with full sail: and yet you must needs steer 
your course beyond. That part of Ausonia which Apollo 
opens lies remote. Go, says he, happy in the pious duty 
of your son ; why do I further insist, and by my discourse 
retard the rising gables? In like manner Andromache, 
grieved at our final departure, brings forth for Ascanius 
vestments wrought in figures of gold, and a Phrygian cloak ; 
nor falls short of his dignity: she loads him also with 
presents of her labors in the loom, and thus addresses him, 



70 VERGII/S AENEID, BOOK III. 

Take these too, my child, which may be memorials 
to you of my handiwork, and testify the permanent 
affection of Andromache, the spouse of Hector: accept 
the last presents of thy friends. O image, which is 
all that I have now left of my Astyanax! just such 
eyes, such hands, such looks he showed; and now of 
equal age with you, would have been blooming into youth. 
I, with tears in my eyes, thus addressed them at parting : 
Live in felicity, ye whose fortune is now accomplished : we 
are summoned from fate to fate. To you tranquillity is 
secured ; no expanse of sea have you to plough, or to pursue 
the ever-retreating lands of Ausonia. You behold the 
image of Xanthus, and the Troy which your own hands 
have built : Heaven grant it be with happier auspices, and 
be less obnoxious to the Greeks. If ever I shall enter the 
Tiber, and the lands that border on the Tiber, and view 
the walls allotted to my race, we will hereafter make our 
kindred cities and allied people, [yours] in Epirus, [and 
mine] in Italy, who have both the same founder, Dar- 
danus, and the same fortune; [w^e will, I say, make] of 
both one Troy, in good-will. Be this the futui'e care of 
our posterity. 

We pursue our voyage near the adjacent Ceraunian 
mountains ; whence lies our way, and the shortest course 
by sea to Italy. Meanwhile the sun goes down, and the 
dusky mountains are wrapped up in shade. On the bosom 
of the wished-for earth we throw ourselves down by the 
waves, having distributed the oars by lot, and all along the 
dry beach we refresh our frames [with food] ; sleep diffuses 
its dews over our weary limbs. Night, driven by the 
hours, had not yet reached her mid-way course, when Pal-, 
inurus springs alert from his bed, examines every wind, 
and lends his ears to catch the breeze. He marks 
every star gliding in the silent sky, Arcturus, the rainy 
Hyades, and the two northern Bears, and throws his 
eyes around Orion armed with gold. After having seen all 
appearances of settled weather in the serene sky, he 
gives the loud signal from the stern : we decamp, attempt 
our voyage, and expand the wings of our sails. And now 
the stars being chased away, blushing Aurora appeared, 



YERGIL's AENEID, book III. 71 

when far off we espy the hills obscure, and lowly Italy. 
Italy ! Achates first called aloud ; Italy the crew with joyous 
acclamations hail. Then father Anchises decked a capacious 
bowl with a garland.' and filled it up with wine ; and invoked 
the gods, standing on the lofty stern : Ye gods who rule sea, 
and land, and storms, grant us a prosperous voyage by the 
wind, and breath propitious. The wished-for gales begin 
to swell ; and now the port opens nearer to our view, and 
on a height appears the temple of Minerva. Our crew furl 
the sails, and turn about their prows to the shore. Where 
the wave breaks from the east, the port bends into an arch ; 
the jutting cliffs foam with the briny spray; [the port] 
itself lies hidden: two turret-like rocks stretch out their 
arms in a double wall, and the temple recedes from the 
shore. Here, on the grassy meadow, I saw, as our first 
omen, four snow-white steeds grazing the plain at large. 
And father Anchises [calls out], War, O hospitable land, 
thou betokenest ; for war steeds are harnessed ; war these 
cattle threaten : but yet, the same quadrupeds having long 
been used to submit to the chariot, and in the yoke to bear 
the peaceful reins, there is hope, also, of peace, he says. 
Then we address our prayers to the sacred majesty of 
Pallas, with clashing arms arrayed, who first received us 
elated with joy ; and before her altars we veiled our heads 
with a Phrygian veil ; and according to the instructions of 
Helenus, on which he laid the gi*eatest stress, in due form 
we offer up to Argive Juno the honors enjoined. Without 
delay, as soon as we had regularly fulfilled our vows, we 
turn about the extremities of our sail-yards, and quit the 
abodes and suspected territories of the sons of Greece. 
Next is seen the bay of Tarentum, sacred to Hercules, if 
report be true; and the Lacinian goddess rears herself 
opposite: the towers of Caulon [also appear], and Scylaceum 
infamous for shipwrecks. Then, far from the waves, is 
seen Trinacrian Aetna ; and from a distance we hear the 
loud growling of the ocean, the beaten rocks, and the 
murmurs of breakers on the coast; the deep leaps 
up, and sands are mingled with the tide. And, [says] 
father Anchises, Doubtless this is is the famed Chary bdis ; 



72 Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 

these shelves, these hideous rocks Helenus foretold. Rescue 
us, my friends, and with equal ardor rise on your oars. They 
do no otherwise than bidden ; and first Palinurus whirled 
about the creaking prow to the left waters. The whole 
crew, with oars and sails, bore to the left. We mount up 
to heaven on the arched gulf, and down again we settle to 
the shades below, the wave having retired. Thrice the 
rocks bellowed amid their hollow caverns; thrice we saw 
the foam dashed up, and the stars drenched with its dewy 
moisture. Meanwhile the wind with the sun forsook us 
spent with toil ; and not know^ing our course, we near the 
coasts of the Cyclopes. 

The port itself is ample, and undisturbed by the access 
of the winds; but, near it, Aetna thunders with horrible 
ruins, and sometimes sends forth to the skies a black 
cloud, ascending in a pitchy whirlwind of smoke and glow- 
ing embers ; throws up balls of flame, and kisses the stars ; 
sometimes, belching, hurls forth rocks and the shattered 
bowels of the mountain, and with a rumbling noise wreaths 
aloft the molten rocks, and boils up from its lowest bottom. 
It is said that the body of Enceladus, half consumed with 
lightning, is pressed down by this pile, and that cumbrous 
Aetna, laid above him, spouts forth flames from its burst 
furnaces ; and that, as often as he shifts his weary side, all 
Trinacria, with a groan, inly trembles, and overshades the 
heavens with smoke. Lying that night under covert of the 
woods, we suffer from "^ those hideous prodigies; nor see 
what cause produced the sound. For neither was there the 
light of the stars, nor was the sky enlightened by the 
starry firmament , but gloom Avas over the dusky sky, and 
a night of extreme darkness muffled up the moon in 
clouds. 

And now the next day with the first dawn was rising, 
and Aurora had dissipated the humid shades from the sky ; 
when suddenly a strange figure of a man unknown 
to us, emaciated to the last degree, and in a lamentable 
plight, stalks from the woods, and with the air of 
a supi^liant, stretches forth his hands to the shore. We 
look back: he was in horrid filth, his beard overgrown, 
9 



VERGll/s AEKEIl), BOOK III. "/S 

his garment tagged with thorns ; but, in all beaide, he was a 
Greek, and had formerly been sent to Troy accompanying 
the arms of his country. As soon as he descried our Tiojan 
dress and arms, struck with terror at the sight, he paused 
awhile, and stopped his progress : a moment after, rushed 
headlong to the shore with tears and prayers. I conjure 
you, [says he,] by the stars, by the powers above, by this 
celestial light of life, ye Trojans, snatch me hence ; convey 
me to any climes whatever, I shall be satisfied. It is true, 
I am one who belonged to the Grecian fleet, and, I confess, 
I bore arms against the walls of Troy : for which, if the 
demerit of my crine be so heinous, scatter my limbs on the 
Avaves, and bury them in the vast ocean. If I die, I shall 
have the satisfaction of dying by the hands of men. He 
had spoken, and clasping our knees, and wallowing 
[on the ground], he clung to our knees. We urge him to 
tell who he is, of what family born ; and next to declare 
what fortune pursues him. My father Anchises frankly 
gives the youth his right hand, and reassures his mind 
by that kind pledge. At length, fear removed, he thus 
begins: I am a native of Ithaca; a companion of the 
unfortunate Ulysses, Achaemenides my name. I went to 
Troy, my father Adamastus being poor, but would that 
my state of life had remained as it was : Here, in the huge 
den of the Cyclops my unmindful companions deserted me, 
while in consternation they fled from his cruel abodes. It 
is an abode of gore and bloody banquets, gloomy within 
and vast ; [the Cyclops] himself, of towering height, beats 
the stars on high, (ye gods, avert such a pest from 
the earth!) fiercely scowling in his aspect, and inaccessi- 
ble to every mortal : he feeds on the entrails and purple 
blood of hapless wretches. I myself beheld, when, having 
grasped in his rapacious hand two of our number, 
as he lay stretched on his back in the middle of the 
cave, he dashed them against the stones, and the bespat- 
tered pavement floated with their blood: I beheld 
when he ground their members distilling black gore, 
and their tepid limbs quivered under his teeth. Not 
with impunity, it is true; such barbarity Ulysses suf- 
fered not [to" pass unrevenged], nor was the prince of 
Ithaca forgetful of himself in that critical hour. For as 
soon as, glutted with his banquet, and buried in wine, 



T4 Vergil's aeneid, book hi. 

he reposed his reclined neck to rest, and lay at his 
enormous length along the cave, disgorging blood in 
his sleep, and bits of food intermixed with gory wine; 
we, having implored the great gods, and distributed 
our several parts by lot, pour in upon him on all hands at 
once, and with our pointed javelins bore out the huge 
single eye which was sunk under his lowering front, like a 
Grecian buckler, or the orb of Phoebus ; and at length we 
joyfully avenge the manes of our friends. But flee, ah 
wretches! flee, and tear the cables from the shore. For 
such and so vast as Polyphemus [is, who] pens in his hollow 
cave the fleecy flocks, and drains their dugs, a hundred 
other direful Cyclopes commonly haunt these winding 
shores, and roam on the lofty mountains. The horns of 
the moon are now filling up with light for the third time, 
while in these woods, among the desert dens and holds of 
wild beasts, I linger out my life, and descry from the rock 
the vast Cyclopes, and quake at the sound of their feet and 
voice. The berries and the stony cornels, which the 
branches supply, form my wretched sustenance, and the 
herbs feed me with their plucked-up roots. Casting my 
eyes around on every object, this fleet I espied first steering 
to the shore ; to it I was resolved to give up myself, what- 
ever it had been ; it sufiices me that I have escaped from 
that horrid crew. Do you rather destroy this life by any 
sort of death. 

Scarcely had he spoken this, when on the summit of the 
mountain we observe the shepherd Polyphemus himself, 
stalking with his enormous bulk among his flocks, and 
seeking the shore, his usual haunt; a horrible monster, 
misshapen, vast, of sight deprived. The trunk of a pine 
guides his hand, and makes firm his steps; his fleecy 
sheep accompany him; this is his sole delight, and the 
solace of his distresses. After he touched the deep floods, 
and arrived at the sea, he therewith washes away the 
trickling gore from his quenched orb, gnashing his teeth 
with a groan : and now he stalks through the midst of the 
sea, while the waves have not yet wetted his gigantic sides. 



V^ERCtIL*S AEKEin, BOOK III. % 

We, in consternation, hasten our flight far from 
that shore, having received our suppUant, who thus 
merited our favor; we silently cut the cable, and bending 
forward, sweep the sea with struggling oars. He per- 
ceived, and at the sound turned his steps. But when no 
opportunity is afforded him to reach us with his eager 
grasp, and he is unable in pursuing us to equal the Ionian 
waves, he raises a prodigious yell, wherewith the sea and 
every wave deeply trembled, and Italy, to its utmost 
bounds, was affrighted, and Aetna bellowed through its 
winding caverns. Meanwhile the race of the Cyclopes, 
roused from the woods and lofty mountains, rush to the 
port, and crowd the shore. We perceive the Aetnean 
brothers, standing side by side in vain, with lowering- 
eye, bearing their heads aloft to heaven; a horrid assem- 
bly : as when aerial oaks, or cone-bearing cypresses, Jove's 
lofty wood, or Diana's grove, together rear their towering 
tops. Sharp fear impels our crew to tack about to any 
quarter whatever, and spread their sails to any favorable 
wind. On the other hand, the commands of Helenus warn 
them not to continue their course between Scylla and 
Chary bdis, a path which borders on death on either hand : 
our resolution [therefore] is, to sail backward. And lo ! the 
north- wind sent from the narrow seat of Pelorus comes 
U) our aid, I am wafted beyond the mouth of Pantagia, 
formed of natural rock, the bay of Megara, and low-lying 
Tapsus. These Achaemenides, the associate of accursed 
Ulysses, pointed out to us, as backward he cruised along 
the scenes of his wanderings. 

Before the Sicilian bay outstretched lies an island 
opposite to rough Plemyrium; the ancients called its 
name Ortygia. It is said, that Alpheus, a river of 
Elis, hath hither worked a secret channel under the 
sea; which by thy mouth, Arethusa, is now blended 
with the Sicilian wav,es. We venerate the great divin- 
ities of the place, as commanded; and thence I pass 
the too luxuriant soil of the overflowing Helorus. 
Hence we skim along the high cliffs and prominent 
rocks of Pachynus ; and at a distance appears Camarina, 
by fate forbidden to be ever removed ; the Geloian plains 



76 VERGIL*S AEiq"EtD, BOOK III. 

and huge Gela, called by the name of the river. Next 
lofty Acragas shows from far its stately walls, once 
the breeder of generous steeds. And thee, Selinus, 
fruitful in palms, I leave, by means of the given 
winds; and I trace my way through the shallows of 
Lilybeum, dangerous through its hidden rocks. Hence the 
port and joyless coast of Drepanum receive me. Here, 
alas! after being tossed by so many storms at sea, I lose 
my sire Anchises, my solace in every care and suffering. 
Here thou, best of fathers, whom in vain, alas! I saved 
from so great dangers, forsakest me spent with toils. 
Neither prophetic Helenus, when he gave me many fearful 
warnings, nor dire Celaeno, predicted to me this mournful 
stroke. This was my finishing disaster, this the termina- 
tion of my long tedious voyage. Parting hence, a god 
directed me to your coasts. 

Thus father Aeneas, while all sat attentive, alone 
recounted the destiny allotted to him by the gods, and 
gave a history of his voyage. He ceased at length, and, 
having here finished his relation, rested. 



BOOK FOURTH. 
SYNOPSIS. 

THE LOVE OF DIDO AND HER END. 

In this book we have an account of the love of Dido for 
Aeneas and her conference with Anna, her sister, in regard 
to it. Juno perceives her passion and conceives a plan of 
union between them. To accomplish this the more easily 
she tries to bring Venus over to her views. 

Meanwhile Aeneas and Dido prepare to go on a hunting 
party ; and in the midst of the chase, Juno raises a violent 
tempest. Shelter is sought wherever it can be found. By 
a device of Juno, Aeneas and Dido repair to the same cave, 
in which the goddess consecrates the nuptials. 

Fame at once circulates the news, until it reaches the 
ears of larbas who had offered himself in marriage to 
Dido, but had been rejected. Hearing of her marriage 
to a stranger, he was filled with rage, mingled with grief. 
He complains to his father, who, pitying him, sends Mer- 
cury to dissolve the marriage tie and order Aeneas to leave 
Carthage. 

Aeneas, in obedience to his commands, privately pre- 
pares to set sail. When Dido perceives his movements, 
she tries to dissuade him from his intention, but with no 
effect. 

On being warned a second time, he quickly sets sail, 
while the love-sick queen sees him leaving her coast. This, 
of course, wrung her soul with agony and drew from her 
lips the most severe reproofs and bitter imprecations. She 
calls upon her people to revenge the injury that had been 
done her and to follow his descendants with irreconcilable 
hatred. She then orders a funeral pile to be erected, which 
she ascends, and with her own hand ends her existence. 



THE 

AENEID 

OF 

P. VERGILIUS MARO. 



BOOK IV. 

But the queen, long since pierced with painful care, feeds 
the wound in her veins, and is consumed by unseen 
flames. The many virtues of the hero, the many honors of 
his race, recur to her thoughts : his looks and words dwell 
fixed in her soul: nor does care allow calm rest to her 
limbs. Returning Aurora now illuminated the earth with 
the lamp of Phoebus, and had chased away the dewy 
shades from the sky, when she, half -frenzied, thus ad- 
dresses her svmpathizing sister : Sister Anna, what dreams 
terrify and distract my mind! What think you of this 
Avondrous guest who has come to our abodes? In mien 
how graceful he appears! in manly fortitude and warlike 
deeds how great! I am fully persuaded (nor is my belief 
groundless) that he is the "^off spring of the gods. Fear 
argues a degenerate mind. Ah! by what fatal disasters 
has he been tossed ! Avhat toils of war he sang, endured to 
the last ! Had I not been fixed and steadfast in my resolu- 
tion, never to join myself to any in the bonds of wedlock, 
since my first love by death mocked and disappointed me; 
had I not been thoroughlj^ tired of the marriage-bed and 
nuptial torch, to this one frailty I might perhaps give 
way/ Anna (for I will own it), since the decease of my 
unhappy spouse Sichaeus, and since the household gods 
were stained with his blood shed by a brother, this 
[stranger] alone has warped my inclinations, and interested 
my wavering mind: I recognize the symptoms of my 
former flame. 



VERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK IV. 79 

But sooner may earth from her lowest depths yawn 
for me, or the almighty Sire hurl me by his thunder to 
the shades, the pale shades of Erebus and deep night, 
than I violate thee, modesty, or break thy laws. He w^ho 
first linked me to himself hath borne away my affection ; 
may he possess it still, and retain it in his grave. This 
said, she filled her bosom with trickling tears. 

Anna replies : O dearer to your sister than the light, will 
you thus in mournful solitude waste your bloom of youth, 
nor know the dear delights of children, nor the rewards of 
love? Think you that ashes and the buried dead care for 
that? What though no lovers moved you before, when your 
sorrows were green, either in Libya, or before in Tyre? 
though larbas was slighted, and other princes whom 
Africa, fertile in triumphs, maintains? Will you also 
resist a flame which you approve? Will you not reflect in 
whose country you now reside? Here the Getulian cities, a 
race invincible in war, unrestrained Numidians, and inhos- 
pitable quicksands, inclose you round; there, a region by 
thirst turned into a desert, and the wide-raging Barcaeans. 
Why should I mention the kindhng wars from Tyre, and 
the menaces of your brother? It was surely, I think, under 
the auspices of the gods, and by the favor of Juno, that the 
Trojan ships steered their course to this our coast. O 
sister, how flourishing shall you see this city, how potent 
your kingdom rise from such a match! By wliat high 
exploits shall the Carthaginian glory be advanced, when 
the arms of the Trojans join them ! ! Do thou but supplicate 
the favor of the gods, and, having performed propitiating 
rites, indulge in hospitality, and devise one pretense after 
another for detaining [your guest,] while winter's fury 
rages on the sea, and Orion charged with rain; while his 
ships are shattered, and the sky is inclement. 

By this speech she fanned the fire of love kindled in 
Dido's breast, buoyed up her wavering mind with hope, 
and banished her scruples. First to the temples they 
repair, and by sacrifice the peace of heaven implore: to 
Ceres the lawgiver, to Phoebus, and to father Bacchus, tliey, 
offer ewes of the age of two years, according to custom; 



80 VERGIL^S AENEiD, BOOK It. 

above all to Juno, whose province is the nuptial tie. 
Dido herself, in all her beauty, holding in her right hand 
the cup, pours it between tlie horns of a white heifer: or 
before the images of the gods in solemn pomp around the 
rich-loaded altars walks, renews one offering after another 
all the day long, and, gaping over the disclosed breasts of the 
victims, consults their panting entrails. Alas! how igno- 
rant the minds of seers! what can prayers, what can 
temples, avail a raging lover? The gentle flame preys all 
the while upon her vitals, and the secret wound rankles in 
her breast. Unhappy Dido burns, and frantic roves over 
all the town ; like a wounded deer, whom, off her guard, a 
shepherd pursuing with his darts has pierced at a distance 
among the Cretan woods, and unknowingly [in the wound] 
hath left the winged steel : she flying bounds over the Dic- 
taean woods and glades : the fatal shaft sticks in her side. 
Now she conducts Aeneas through the midst of her fortifica- 
tions; shows him both the treasures brought from Tyre, 
and her new city : she begins to speak, and stops short in 
the middle of a word. When day declines, she longs to 
have the same banquets renewed ; and, fond even to mad- 
ness, begs again to hear the Trojan disasters, and again 
hangs on the speaker's lips. Now, when they had sever- 
ally retired, while the fading moon in her alternate course 
withdraws her light, and the setting stars invite sleep, she 
mourns alone in the desert hall, presses the couch which he 
had left, and in fancy hears and sees the absent hero ; or, 
captivated with her father's image, hugs Ascanius in her 
bosom, if possibly she may divert her unutterable love. 
The towers which were begun cease to rise; her youth 
practice not their warlike exercises, nor prepare ports or 
safe bulwarks for war; the works and the huge battle- 
ments on the walls, and the engines that mate the skies, 
are discontinued. 

Whom when Jove's beloved wife perceived to be thus 
possessed with the blighting passion, and that even sense 
of honor could not resist its rage, Saturnia thus artfully 
addresses Venus: Distinguished praise, no doubt, and 
ample spoils, you and your boy carry off, great and signal 
renown, 
10 



Vergil's aeneid, book iv. 81 

if one woman is overcome by the wiles of two dei- 
ties. Nor am I quite ignorant, that you apprehend dan- 
ger from our walls, and view the structures of lofty 
Carthage with a jealous eye. But where will all this end? 
or what do we now propose by such hot contention? Why 
do not we I'ather promote an eternal peace, and nuptial 
contract? You have your whole souFs desire, Dido burns 
with love, and has sucked the fury into her very bones. 
Let us therefore rule this people in common, and under 
equal sway ; let Dido be at liberty to bind herself in wed- 
lock to a Trojan lord, and into thy hand deliver over the 
Tyrians by way of dowry. 

To whom Venus (for she perceived that she spoke with 
an insincere mind, with a design to transfer the seat of 
empire from Italy to the Libyan coasts) thus in her turn 
began: Who can be so mad as to reject these terms, and 
rather choose to engage in war with you, would fortune 
but concur with the scheme which you mention? But I am 
driven to an uncertainty by the Fates [not knowing] 
whether it be the will of Jupiter that the Tyrians and 
Trojans should dwell in one city, or if he Avill approve 
the union of the two nations, and the joining of alliance. 
You are his consort : to you it belongs by entreaty to work 
upon his mind.\ Lead you the way; I will follow. Then 
imperial Juno thus replied: That task shall be mine: 
meanwhile (mark my words) I w^ill briefly show by what 
means our present design may be accomplished. Aeneas 
and most unhappy Dido are preparing to hunt together in 
the forest, soon as to-morrow's sun shall have brought forth 
the early dawn, and enlightened the world with his beams. 
While the |bright-hued] plumage flutters, and they inclose 
the thickets with toils, I will pour on them from above a 
blackening storm of rain with mingled hail, and with peals 
of thunder make heaven's whole frame to shake. Their 
retinue shall fly different ways, and be covered with a 
dark night [of cloudsj. Dido and the Trojan prince shall 
repair to the same cave : there will I be present, and, if I 
have your firm consent, I will join them in the lasting 
bonds of wedlock, and consecrate her to be his forever. The 
god of marriage shall be there. Venus, without any oppo- 
sition, agreed to her proposal, and smiled at the fraud she 
discovered. 

Meanwhile Aurora rising left the ocean. 



82 VERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK IV. 

Soon as the beams of day shot forth, the chosen youth issue 
through the gates : the fine nets, the toils, the broad-pointed 
hunting spears, the Massyhan horsemen, and a pack of 
quick-scented hounds, pour forth together. Before the pal- 
ace gate the Carthaginian nobles await the queen lingering 
in her alcove : her steed, richly caparisoned with purple and 
gold, ready stands, and fiercely champs the foaming bit. 
At length she comes attended by a numerous retinue, 
attired in a Sidonian chlamys with embroidered border: 
she has a quiver of gold ; her tresses are tied in a golden 
knot; a golden buckle binds up her purple robe. The 
Trojan youth, too, and sprightly liilus, accompany the 
procession. ,' Aeneas himself, distinguished in beauty above 
all the rest mingles with the retinue, and adds his train to 
hers : as when Apollo, leaving Lycia, his winter seat, and 
the streams of Xanthus, revisits his mother's island Delos, 
and renews the dances : the Cretans, Dry opes, and painted 
Agathyrsi, mingle their acclamations around his altars: 
he himself moves majestic on Cynthus' top, and adjusting 
his waving hair, crowns it with a soft wreath, and infolds 
it in gold ; his arrows rattle on his shoulders. With no 
less active grace Aeneas moved; such comeliness shines 
forth in his matchless mien. Soon as they reached the 
high mountains, and pathless lairs, lo ! from the summit of 
the craggy cliff the wild goats dislodged skip down the 
rocks : on the other side the stags scour along the open 
plains, and gather together in flight their dust-covered 
squadrons, and forsake the mountains. But the boy Asca- 
nius delights in his sprightly courser through the inclosed 
vales; and now these, now those he outrides, and devoutly 
wishes that a foaming boar would cross his way amid the 
feeble flocks, or a tawny lion descend from the mountain. 

Meanwhile the air begins to be disturbed with loud mur- 
murings; a deluge of rain with mingled hail succeeds. 
And here and there the Tyrian train, the Trojan youth, 
and Venus' grandchild of Dardanian line, for fear sought 
different shelters through the fields. Whole rivprs from 
the mountains come pouring down. Dido and the Trojan 
prince repair to the same cave. 



VElUai/.S AKNKil), BOOK J V. 83 

[Then] first the Earth, and Juno wlio presides over mar- 
riage, gave the signal : hghtnings flashed, the sky was a 
witness to the alliance, and the nymphs were heard to 
shriek on the moimtain tops. That day first proved the 
source of death, the source of woes: for [now J Dido is 
neither influenced by appearance or character, nor is she 
now studious to carry on clandestine love: she calls it 
marriage : she veils her guilt under that name. 

Forthwith Fame through the populous city of Libya 
runs : Fame, than w-hom no pest is more swift, by exerting 
her agility grows more active, and acquires strength on 
her way : small at first through fear ; soon she shoots up 
into the skies, and stalks along the ground, while she hides 
her head among the clouds. Parent Earth, enraged by 
the vengeance of the gods, produced her the youngest 
sister, it is said of Coeus, and Enceladus, swift to move 
with feet and persevering wings: a monster hideous, 
immense; who (wondrous to relate!) for as many plumes 
as are in her body, numbers so many wakeful eyes beneath, 
so many tongues, so many babbling mouths, pricks up so 
many listening ears. By night, through the mid region of 
the sky, and through the shades of earth, she flies buzzing 
nor inclines her eyes to balmy rest. Watchful by day, she 
perches either on some high housetop, or on lofty turrets, 
and fills mighty cities with dismay; as obstinately bent on 
falsehood and inquity as on reporting truth. She then, 
delighted, with various rumors filled the people's ear, and 
uttered facts and fictions indifferently; [namely], that 
Aeneas, sprung from Trojan blood, had arrived, whom 
Dido, with all her charms, vouchsafed to wed ; that now 
in reveling with each other they enjoyed the winter, 
throughout its length, unmindful of their kingdoms, and 
enslaved by a base passion. With such news the foul god- 
dess fills the mouths of the people. To king larbas straight 
she turns her course; inflames- his soul by her rumors, 
and aggravates his rage. 

This larbus, the son of Ammon by the ravished 
nymph Garn mantis, raised to Jove a hundred lofty 
temples within his extensive realms, 



84 Vergil's aeneid, book iv. 

a hundred altars; and there had he consecrated the wakeful 
fire, with a sacred watch to keep eternal guard, a piece of 
ground, fattened with victims' blood, and the gates adorned 
with wreaths of various flowers. He, maddened in soul, 
and inflamed by the bitter tidings, is said, before the altars, 
amid the very presence of the gods, to have [thusj impor- 
tunately addressed Jupiter in suppliant form with uplifted 
hands: Almighty Jove, to whom the Maurusian race, that 
feast on painted couches, now honor thee with a libation 
of wine, seest thou these things? or do we vainly dread 
thee, when thou, O father! dartest thy thunder -bolts? and 
are those lightnings in the clouds that terrify our minds 
blind and fortuitous, and do they mingle mere idle sounds? 
A wandering woman, who hath built in our dominions a 
small city [on a spotj she purchased ; to whom we assigned 
a tract of shore for tillage, and upon whom we imposed the 
laws of the country, hath rejected our proffered match, 
and hath taken Aeneas into her kingdom for her lord : and 
now this other Paris, with his unmanly train, bound under 
the chin with a Lydian cap, and with his locks bedewed 
[with odors], enjoys the ravished prize: [this we have 
deserved forsooth, J because we bring offerings to thy tem- 
ples, and cherish an idle glory. 

While in such terms he addressed his prayer, and 
grasped the altar, the almighty heard, and turned his eyes 
toward the royal towers [of Carthage], and the lovers 
regardless of their better fame. Then thus he bespeaks 
Mercury, and gives him these instructions: Fly quick, my 
son, call the zephj^rs, and on thy pinions glide: and to the 
Trojan prince, who now loiters in Tyrian Carthage, nor 
regards the cities allotted him by the Fates, address your- 
self ; and bear [thisl my message swiftly through the skies. 
Not such a one did his fairest mother promise us, nor was 
it for this she saved him twice from the Grecian sword : 
but that he should be one who should rule Italy, big with 
[future] empire, and fierce in war, who should evince 
his descent from Teucer's noble blood, and bring the 
whole world under his sway. If he is not fired by the 
glory of such deeds, nor will himself attempt any laborious 
enterprise for his own renown, will he, the father, envy 
Ascanius Rome's imperial towers? What does he propose? 
or with what prospect lingers he so long among an 
unfriendly race. 



Vergil's aeneid, book iv. 85 

nor regards his Ausonian offspring, and Lavinian fields? 
Bid him set sail. No more ; be this our message. 

He said: Mercury prepared to obey his mighty father's 
will; and first to his feet he binds his golden sandals, 
which by their wings waft him aloft, whether over sea or 
land, swift as the rapid gales. Next he takes his wand ; 
with this he calls from hell the pale ghosts, dispatches 
others down to sad Tartarus, gives sleep or takes it away, 
and unseals the eyes from death. Aided by this, he drives 
along the winds, and breasts the troubled clouds. And 
now in his flight he espies the top and lofty sides of hardy 
Atlas, who with his summit supports the sky; Atlas, 
whose head, crowned with pines, is always encircled with 
black clouds, and lashed by wind and rain : large sheets of 
snow^ enwrap his shoulders ; from the chin of the old man 
torrents headlong roll, and his grizzly beard is stiff with 
icicles. Here first Cyllenius, poising himself on even 
wings, alighted ; hence with the weight of his whole body 
he flings himself headlong to the floods; Hke the fowl, 
which [hovering] about the sliores, about the fishy rocks, 
flies low near the surface of the seas: just so Maia's son, 
shooting down from his maternal grandsire between 
heaven and earth, [skinmied along] the sandy shore of 
Libya, and cut the winds. 

As soon as he touched the cottages [of Africa] with his 
winged feet, he views Aeneas founding towers and raising 
new structures ; and at his side he wore a sword studded 
with yellow jasper, and a cloak hanging down from his 
shoulders, glowed with Tyrian purple: presents which 
wealthy Dido had given, and had interwoven the stutt" 
with threads of gold. Forthwith he accosts him: Is it for 
you now to be laying the foundations of stately Carthage, 
and the fond slave of a wife, be raising a city [for her], 
regardless, alas! of your kingdom and nearest concerns^ 
The sovereign of the gods, who governs heaven and earth by 
his nod, himself sends me down to you from bright Olym- 
pus. The same commanded me to bear these his instruc- 
tions swiftly through the air. 



86 YERGIL'S AE^'Ell), BOOK IV. 

What dost thou propose, with what prospect dost thou 
waste thy peaceful hours in the territories of Libya? If no 
glory from such deeds move thee, and thou wilt attempt 
no laborious enterprise for thy own renown ; have some 
regard [at least J to the rising Ascanius, and the hopes 
of thine heir Ililus, for whom the kingdom of Italy and 
the Roman territories are destined. When Cyllenius had 
spoken thus, he left mortal vision in the very midst of the 
conference, and far beyond sight vanished into thin air. 

Meanwhile Aeneas, entranced by the vision, was struck 
dumb; his hair with horror stood erect, and his tongue 
cleaved to his jaws. He burns to be gone in flight, and 
leave the darling land, awed by the message and dread 
command of the gods. Ah! what can he do? in what 
terms can he now presume to solicit the consent of the 
raving queen? With what words shall he introduce the 
subject? And now this way, now that, he swiftly turns 
his wavering mind, snatches various piu*poses by starts, 
and roams uncertain through all. Thus fluctuating, 
he fixed on this resolution as the best: he calls to him 
Mnestheus, Sergestus, and the brave Cloanthus; [and bids 
them] with silent care equip the fleet, summon their social 
bands to the shore, prepare their arms, and artfully con- 
ceal the cause of this sudden change: [adding.] that he 
himself, in the mean time, while generous Dido was in 
ignorance, and had no apprehension that their so great 
loves could be dissolved, would try the avenues [to her 
heart], what may be the softest moments of address, what 
means might be most favorable to their design. W^ith 
joyful speed they all obey the commands, and put his 
orders in execution. 

But the queen (who can deceive a lover?) Avas beforehand 
in perceiving the fraud, and the first who conjectured their 
future motions, dreading even where all seemed to be safe; 
the same malignant Fame conveyed the news to her frantic 
that the fleet was being equipped*^ and preparing to set sail. 
She rages even to madness, and inflamed, she wildly roams 
through all the city ; like a Bacchanal wrought up into 
enthusiastic fury in celebrating the sacred [mysteries of 
her god], when the triennial orgies stimulate her, at hear- 
ing the name of Bacchus, and the nocturnal bowlings on 
Mount Citheron invite her. At length, in these words she 
first accosts Aeneas : 



Vergil's aeis^eid, book iv. 87 

And didst thou hope, too, perfidious one, to be able to 
conceal from me so wicked a purpose, and to steal away in 
silence fi'om my coasts? Can neither our love, nor thy 
once plighted faith, nor Dido resolved to die by a cruel 
death, detain thee? Nay, you prepare your fleet even in 
the wintry season, and haste to launch into the deep amid 
northern blasts ! Cruel one ! suppose you were not bound 
for a foreign land and settlements unknown, and old Troy 
was still remaining; should you set sail for Troy on this 
tempestuous sea? Wilt thou flee from me? By these tears, 
by that right hand (since I have left nothing else to myself 
now, a wretch forlorn), by our nuptial rites, by our con- 
jugal loves begun; if I have deserved any thanks at thy 
hand, or if ever you saw any charms in me, take pity, I 
implore thee, on a falling race, and, if yet there is any room 
for prayers, lay aside your resolution. For thy sake have I 
incurred the hatred of the Libyan nations, of the Numidian 
princes, and made the Tyrians my enemies; for thy sake 
have I sacrified my shame, and, what alone raised me to 
the stars, my former fame: to whom dost thou abandon 
Dido, soon about to die, my guest ! since, instead of a hus- 
band's name, only this remains? What wait I for? is it 
till mj^ brother Pygmalion lay this city of mine in ashes, 
orlarbas, the Getulian, carrj^ me away his captive? Had 
I but enjoyed offspring by thee before thy flight; did a 
young Aeneas play in my hall, were it but to give me thy 
image in liis features, I should not indeed have thought 
myself quite a captive and forlorn. 

She said. He, by the commands of Jove, held his eyes 
unmoved, and with hard struggles suppressed the anxious 
care in his heart. At length he briefly replies. That you, 
O queen, have laid on me numerous obligations, which you 
may recount at large, I never shall disown; and I shall 
always remember Elisa with pleasure, while I have any 
remembrance of myself, while I have a soul to actuate 
these limbs. But to the point in debate I shall briefly 
speak : believe me, I neither thought by stealth to have con- 
cealed this my flight, nor did I ever pretend a lawful union, 
or enter into .such a contract. Had the Fates left me free 
to conduct my life by my own direction, 



88 Vergil's aeneid, book iv. 

and ease my cares according to my own choice, my 
first regards had been shown to Troy and the dear 
reUcs of my country; Priam's lofty palace should 
[now] remain, and with this hand I would have repaired 
for the conquered the walls of Pergamus, raised again 
from ruin. But now to great Italy Grynaean Apollo, 
to Italy the Lycian oracles have conmianded me to 
repair. " This is the object of my love, this my country. 
If the towers of Carthage and the sight of a Libyan city 
engross you, a Phoenician born, why should you be dissat- 
isfied that we Trojans settle in the land of Ausonia? Let 
us too have the privilege to go in quest of foreign realms. 
Whenever the night overspreads the earth with humid 
shades, as often as tlie fiery stars arise, the troubled ghost 
of my father Anchises visits me in my dreams, and with 
dreadful summons urges [my departure] : my son Ascanius 
[calls] me [hence], and the injury done to one so dear, 
whom I defraud of the Hesperian crown, and his destined 
dominions. Now also the messenger of the gods, dis- 
patched from Jove himself, (I call them both to witness !) 
swift gliding through the air, bore to me his high com- 
mands: myself beheld the god in conspicuous brightness 
entering your wails, and with these ears I received his 
voice. Cease to torment yourself and me by your com- 
plaints : the Italian coasts I pursue, not out of choice. 

Thus while he speaks, she views him all along from the 
beginning with averted looks, roUing her eyes hither and 
thither, and with silent glances surveys his whole person, 
then thus inflamed with wrath breaks forth : Nor goddess 
gave thee birth, perfidious one ! nor is Dardanus the founder 
of thy race, but frightful Caucasus on flinty cliffs brought 
thee forth, and Hyrcanian tigers gave thee suck. For why 
should I dissemble? or for what greater injuries can I be 
reserved? Did he so much as si'gh at my distress? did he 
once move his eyes? Did he, overcome, shed a tear, or 
compassionate me in my love? Where shall I begin my 
complaint? Now neither mighty Juno nor the Saturnian 
sire, considers these things with impartial eyes. Firm 
faith nowhere subsists. An outcast on my shores, an indi- 
gent wretch, I received him, and fool that I was, settled 
him in partnership of my crown; his wrecked fleet [I re- 
newed], his companions from death I saved. Ah! I am all 
on fire, I am distracted with fury ! ' ' Now the prophetic 
voice of Apollo; 
H 



Vergil's aeneid, booiv iv. 89 

now the Lycian lots; and now tho messenger of the 
gods, dispatched from Jove himself, through the air 
conveys the horrid mandate." A worthy employment, 
forsooth, for the powers above, a weighty concern to 
disturb them in their peaceful state ! I neither detain you, 
nor argue against what you have said. Go, speed your 
way for Italy with the winds, pursue this kingdom of 
yours, over the waves. I hope, however (if the just gods 
have any power), thou may est suffer punishment amid the 
rocks, and often [vainly] call on Dido's name. I, though 
absent, will pursue thee with black flames: and, when cold 
death shall have separated these limbs from my soul, as a 
shade will I haunt thee in every place : Wretch ! thou shalt 
make atonement : I shall hear it ; even in the deep shades 
these tidings will reach me. With these words she breaks 
off in the middle of the conference, and sickening shuns 
the light : she turns about, and flings away out of his sight, 
leaving him greatly perplexed through fear, and preparing 
to say a thousand things. Her maids raise her up, bear 
her fainting limbs into her marble bed-chamber, and gently 
lay her on a couch. 

Meanwhile pious Aeneas, though by solacing means he 
desires to ease her grief, and by words to divert her an- 
guish, heaving many a sigh, and staggered in his mind by 
mighty love, yet gives obedience to the commands of the 
gods, and revisits his fleet. Then, indeed, the Trojans in- 
tensely ply their work, and launch the ships all along the 
shore. The pitchy keel floats ; through eager haste to sail, 
they bring from the woods oars not cleared of leaves, and 
unfashioned timber. One might have seen them removing, 
and pouring from all quarters of the town, as when ants, 
mindful of winter, plunder a large granary of corn and 
hoard it up in their cell ; the black battalion marches over 
the plains, and along the narrow track they convey their 
booty through the meadows; some, shoving with their 
shoulders, push forward the cumbrous grain; some raUy 
the [straggling] bands, and chastise those that lag : the path 
all glows with the work. 

Dido, how wast thou then affected with so sad a pros- 
pect ? What groans didst thou utter, when from thy lofty 
tower thou beheldest the shore m its wide extent glowing 
[with bustle], and didst also observe, full in thy view, the 
whole watery plain resounding with such mingled shouts? 



90 VEllGIL^S AENEID, BOOK IV. 

Unrelenting love, how irresistible is thy sway over the 
mind of moi-tals! She is constrained once more to have 
recourse to tears, once more to assail him by prayers, and 
supi^liant to subject the powers of her soul to love, lest, by 
leaving any means unattempted, she should throw away 
her life rashly, and without cause. 

Anna, seest thou over all the shore how they are hasten- 
ing? The whole bands are drawn together, the canvas now 
invites the gales; and the joyful mariners have crowned 
their sterns with garlands. O sister, since I was able to 
foresee this so sad a blow, I shall be able to bear it. Yet, 
Anna, perform this one request for your wretched sister : 
for that perfidious man made you the sole object of his 
esteem, even intrusted you with the secrets of his soul, 
you alone knew the occasions and soft approaches to his 
heart. Go, sister, and in suppliant terms bespeak the 
haughty foe: I never conspired with the Greeks at Aulis 
to extirpate the Trojan race, or sent a, fleet to Troy; nor 
did I disturb the ashes and manes of his father Anchises. 
Why does he stop his unrelenting ears to my words? 
whither does he fiy? Let him grant but this last favor 
to his unhappy lover ; to defer his flight till it be safe, and 
till the winds blow fair. I plead no more for that old- 
promised wedlock, which he has betrayed; nor that he 
should deprive himself of fair Latium, and relinquish a 
kingdom. I ask a trifling moment ; a respite and interval 
from distracting pain, till, subdued by fortune, I learn to 
sustain my woes. This favor I implore as the last, (pity 
thy sister !) which, when he has granted, I shall send him 
away completely happy in my death. 

To this effect she prayed; and her sister, deeply dis- 
tressed, bears once and again this mournful message to 
Aeneas; but by none of her mournful messages is he 
moved, nor listens with calm regard to any words. The 
Fates stand in his way ; and heaven renders his ears deaf 
to compassion. And as the Alpine north winds by their 
blasts, now on this side, now on that, strive with joint force 
to overturn a sturdy ancient oak: a loud howling goes 
forth, and the leaves strew the ground in heaps, Avhile the 
trunk is shaken ; the tree itself cleaves fast to the rocks ; 
and as high as it shoots up to the top in the ethereal 
regions, so deep it descends with its root toward Tartarus : 



BOOK FIFTH. 

SYNOPSIS. 

THE GAMES OF THE FLEET. 

In the opening lines of this book we have an account of 
the departure of Aeneas from Carthage. Shortly after, a 
violent storm arises and he is forced to direct his course to 
Sicily. He enters the port of Drepanum, where he is cor- 
dially received by king Acestes. After sacrificing and 
celebrating the anniversary of his father's death, he insti- 
tutes four kinds of games in his honor. Meanwhile the 
Trojan women, in.stigated by Iris (whom Juno had sent for 
that purpose) fired the ships, hoping thereby to end the 
voyage of which they had become weary. Jupiter, upon 
Aeneas' entreaty, sent a heavy shower of rain, which 
extinguished the flames. Four of the ships, however, 
were destroyed. 

Thereupon, Nautes advises Aeneas to leave the aged and 
those who were weary of the voyage, in Sicily. This, the 
ghost of Anchises, which appeared to him in a vision on 
the following night, confirmed. He was also directed to 
visit the Sibyl of Cumae, who would conduct him to the 
lower regions, where he would be more fully informed as 
to his own fortune and that of his race. 

This advice the hero followed ; and after having founded 
a city which he called Acestes, he sailed for Italy. 

Not long afterward he lost Palinurus, the pilot of his 
ship, who fell overboard in his sleep. 



THE 

AENEID 

OF 

P. VEEGILIUS MAKO. 



BOOK V. 



Meanwhile, Aeneas, in direct course, was now fairly on 
his route witli the fleet, and was cutting the black billows 
before the wind, looking back to the walls which now glare 
with the flames of unfortunate Elisa. What cause may 
have kindled such a blaze is unknown ; but the thought of 
those cruel agonies that arise from violent love when 
injured, and the knowledge of what a frantic woman can 
do, led the minds of the Trojans through dismal forebod- 
ings. 

As soon as their ships held the main, and no more land 
appears, sky all around, and ocean all around ; a dark lead- 
colored watery cloud stood over his head, bringing on 
night, and storm; and the Avaves became horrid in the 
gloom. The pflot Palinurus himself from the lofty stern 
[exclaims] : Ah ! why have such threatening clouds begirt 
the sky ? or what, O father Neptune, hast thou in view ? 
Thus having spoken, he next commands to furl the sails, 
and ply the sturdy oar ; the bellying canvas he turns ask- 
ance to the wind, and thus speaks: Magnanimous Aeneas, 
should Jupiter on his authority assure me, I could not hope 
to reach Italy in this weather. The winds changed roar 
across our path, and arise thick from the darkening west, and 
the air is condensed into cloud. We are neither able to 
make head against [the storm], nor even to withstand 
it: since fortune overpowers us, let us follow her. 



yergil's aeneid, book y. 101 

and turn our course where she invites us : the trusty shores 
of your brother Eryx, and the Sicihan ports, I deem not far 
off, if I but rightly remembering review the stars I observed 
before. Then the pious Aeneas [said], I indeed have observed 
long ago that the winds urge us to this, and that your contrary 
efforts are in vain. Shift your course by the sails. Can 
any land be more welcome to me, or where I would sooner 
choose to put in my weather-beaten ships, than that which 
preserves for me Trojan Acestes, and in its bosom 
incloses the bones of my father Anchises? This said, they 
make toward the port, and the prosperous zephyrs stretch 
the sails: the fleet swiftly rides on the flood; and at length 
the joyous crew are wafted to the well-known strand. 

But Acestes, from a mountain's lofty summit, struck with 
the distant prospect of their arrival, and at the friendly 
ships, comes up to them, all rough with javelins, and the hide 
of an African bear: whom, begotten by the river Crimisus, a 
Trojan mother bore. He, not unmindful of his origin, con- 
gratulates them on their safe arrival, and cheerfully enter- 
tainsi them with rude magnificence, and refreshes them 
fatigued with friendly cheer. 

When with the early dawn the ensuing bright day had 
chased away the stars, Aeneas summons to council his fol- 
lowers from all the shore, and from the summit of a ris- 
ing ground addresses them: Illustrious Trojans, whose 
descent is from the exalted blood of the gods, the annual 
circle is completed by the fulfillment of months, since we 
lodged in the earth the relics and bones of my godlike sire, 
and consecrated to him the altars of mourning. And now 
the day, if I mistake not, is at hand, which I shall always 
account a day of sorrow, always a day to be honored: 
such, ye gods, has been your pleasure. Were I to pass 
this day in exile among the Syrtes of Getulia, or over- 
taken [by it] on the Grecian Sea, or in the city of IVIycene, 
yet would I regularly perform my annual vows, and the 
solemn funeral processions, and heap the altars with their 
proper offerings. Now, without premeditated design, though 
not, I judge, without the will or the influence of the gods, 
we are come to the ashes and bones of my own father, and 
are wafted to the friendly port which we are now entering. 



102 VERGIL'S AElfEID, BOOK V. 

Come then, and let us all celebrate the joyous rites. 
Let us pray for [prosperous] winds, and that, when 
our city is built, he will permit me to offer to him 
these rites annually in temples consecrated to his honor. 
Acestes, a son of Troy, gives you two oxen for each ship: 
invite to the feast your household and country gods, and 
those whom our host Acestes worships. Further, if the 
ninth morning shall bring forth the day fair and serene to 
mortals, and brighten up the world with its beams, I will 
propose to the Trojans the first trial of skill to be with the 
swiftest of their ships. And whoever excels in running, in 
strength who boldly dares, or moves superior in the jave- 
lin, and the light arrows, or who has courage to encounter 
with the bloody cestus ; let all such be ready at hand, and 
expect prizes of victory suitable to their merit. Do ye all 
keep religious guard over your lips, and encircle your tem- 
ples with boughs. 

This said, he crowns his temples with his mother's myr- 
tle. The same does Elymus : the same Acestes ripened in 
years; the same the boy Ascanius, whose example the 
other youths follow. He went from the assembly to the 
tomb with many thousands, in the center of a numerous 
retinue attending. Here in due form, by way of libation, 
he pours on the ground to Bacchus two bowls of wine, two 
of new milk, two of sacred blood; then scatters blooming 
flowers, and thus speaks : Hail, holy sire ! once more hail, 
ye ashes revisited in vain! ye ghosts and shades of my 
father ! Heaven would not allow us to go together in quest 
of the bounds of Italy, and of the lands allotted to me by 
fate, or the Ausonian Tiber, whatever river that is. He 
said ; when from the bottom of the shrine a huge slippery 
snake trailed along, seven circling spires, seven folds, 
gently twining round the tomb, and gliding over the 
altars; whose back azure streaks, and whose scales drops 
of burnished gold brightened up ; as the bow in the clouds 
draws a thousands various colors from the opposite sun. 
Aeneas stood amazed at the sight. At length the reptile, 
creeping with his long train between the bowls and smooth- 
polished goblets, gently tasted the banquet, and harmless 
retired again into the bottom of the tomb, and left the 
altars on which he had fed. 



Vergil's aeneid, book v. 103 

Aeneas with the more zeal pursues the sacrifice be- 
gun in honor of his father, in doubt whether to think 
it the genius of the place, or the attendant of his 
parent. He sacrificed two ewes, two years old, ac- 
cording to custom; as many sows, as many bullocks 
with sable backs : and he poured out wine from the goblets, 
and invoked the soul of the great Anchises, and his ghost 
from Acheron released. In like manner his companions 
offer gifts with joy, each according to his ability; they 
load the altars, and sacrifice bullocks. Others place the 
brazen caldrons in order, and stretched along the grass, 
apply burning coals under the spits, and roast the flesh. 

Now the wished-for day approached, and the steeds of 
the sun ushering in the ninth morning with a serene sky ; 
fame, and the renown of illustrious Acestes, had drawn 
together the neighborhood. They filled the shore with joy- 
ous crowd, some to see the Trojans, some too prepared to 
try their skill. The prizes first are set before their eyes in 
the midst of the circus ; sacred tripods, green garlands, and 
palms, the reward of the conquerors ; arms, and vestments 
of purple dye, two talents, one of gold and one silver: 
and the trumpet from the midst of the rising ground gives 
the signal that the games are begun. 

Four ships selected from the whole fleet, equally matched 
with ponderous oars, first enter the lists. Mnestheus man- 
ages the swift-sailing Pristis, with stout rowers, [destined] 
soon [to be] the Italian Mnestheus, from which name the 
family of Memmius is derived ; Gj^as, the huge Chimera of 
stupendous bulk, a work like a city, which with a triple tier 
the Trojan youth impel ; the oars rise together in a triple 
row. Sergestus, from whom the Sergian family has its 
name, rides in the bulky Centaur; and Cloanthus in the 
sea-green Scylla, from whom, O Roman Cluentius, is thy 
descent. 

Far in the sea there lies a rock opposite to the foam- 
ing shore, which sometimes overwhelmed is buffeted by 
the swelling surges, when the wintery north-west winds 
overcloud the stars: in a calm it lies hushed, and rises 
above the still waves as a plain, 



104 VERGIL^S AEKEID, BOOK V. 

and a delightful station for the cormorants basking 
in the sun. Here father Aeneas erected a verdant 
goal of branching oak for a signal to the mariners; 
whence they might know to turn back, and whence 
to wind about the long circuits. Then they choose 
their places by lot; and on the poops the leaders them- 
selves, adorned with gold and purple, shine from afar with 
distinguished luster. The rest of the youth are crowned 
with poplar wreaths, and glitter, having their naked 
shoulders besmeared with oil. They sit down side by side 
on the benches, and their arms are stretched to the oars : 
with eager attention they wait the signal, and their throb- 
bing hearts beat heavily with the impulse' of fear, and the 
generous thirst of praise. Then, as soon as the loud trum- 
pet gave the signal, all (there is no delay) started from 
their barrier: the seamen's clamor strikes the skies; and 
the seas, upturned by their in-bent arms, foam. At once 
they plow the wateiy furrows ; and the whole deep opens, 
convulsed with oars and trident beaks. Not with such 
violent speed the coursers in the two-yoked chariot-race 
spring to the field, and start with full career from the goal ; 
nor with such ardor do the charioteers shake the Avaving 
reins over the flying steeds, and, bending forward, hang to 
[give] the lash. Then, with the applause and uproar of the 
seamen, and the eager acclamations of the favoring crowd, 
every grove resounds : the bounded shores roll the voices 
on; the lashed hills re-echo the sound. Amid the bustle 
and uproar, Gyas flies out before the rest, and scuds 
away the foremost on the waves: whom next Cloanthus 
follows, a more skillful rower, but the vessel, sluggish 
through its bulk, retards him. After these, at equal 
distance, the Pristis and Centaur strive to gain the fore- 
most place. And noAv the Pristis has the advantage, now 
the huge Centaur gets before her vanquished [antagonist] ; 
anon both advance together with united fronts, and 
with their long keels plow the briny waves. And now 
they were approaching the rock, and had reached the goal, 
when Gyas the foremost, and [hitherto] victorious, thus in 
mid-sea accosts Menoetes, the pilot of his ship : Whither, 
I pray, are you going so far to the right? this way steer 
your course: keep to the shore, and let the oar graze 
upon the rocks to the left: let others stand out to sea. 
He said: but Menoetes, dreading the hidden 
13 



VERGlL^S A.ENEID, BOOK V. 105 

rocks, turns out his prow toward the waves. Gyas with loud 
voice called to him again, Menoetes, whither are you steer- 
ing opposite? once more, I say, keep to the rocks: And lo! 
he espies Cloanthus pressing on his rear, and keeping a 
nearer compass. He, between Gyas' ship and the roaring 
rocks, brushes along the left-hand path on the inside, and 
suddenly gets ahead of him who was before, and leaving 
the goal, gains the safe seas. Then indeed severe grief 
blazed up in the inmost vitals of the youth : nor were his 
cheeks free from tears ; and regardless both of his own dig- 
nify and the safety of his friends, he hurls dastardly Me- 
noetes headlong from the lofty stern into the sea. Himself 
succeeds to the helm, both as pilot and commander; en- 
courages his men, and turns his rudder to the shore. But 
when encumbered Menoetes with difficulty at length had 
risen from the deep bottom being now in years, and languid 
by reason of his wet garments, he crawls up to the summit 
of the rock, and sat down on the dry cliff. The Trojans 
laughed both to see him fall, and to see him swimming; 
and they renew their laughter when from his breast he 
vomits up the briny wave. Here Sergestus and Mnestheus, 
the two last, were fired with joyous hope to outstrip Gyas 
lagging behind. Sergestus gets the start, and makes up to 
the rock, nor yet had he the advantage by the whole length 
of the ship, only by a part: the rival Pristis partly presses 
him with her beak. But Mnestheus, on the mid-deck walk- 
ing among his crew, animates them : My Hectorean bands, 
whom I chose associates in Troy's last fatal hour, now, now 
with keenness ply your oars; now exert that vigor, now 
that soul of which you were masters in the quicksands of 
Getulia, in the Ionian Sea, and on Malea's coast, where 
waves succeeding waves pursued us. Your Mnestheus 
aspires not now to the foremost place, nor contends for the 
victory : though would to heaven ! but may those conquer 
to whom thou, O Neptune, hast given that boon. Let us 
be ashamed to 'come in the last. Surmount, my country- 
men, and repel that criminal disgrace. They bend to the 
oar with the greatest emulation : the brazen-beaked galley 
trembles with the vast strokes, and the [watery] surface 
flies from under them. Then thick panting shakes their 
limbs and parched jaws: sweat flows from every pore in 
rivulets. 



10(> VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK V. 

Mere chance procured the men the wished-f or honor : for 
while Sergestus, in his furious career, is pressing up the 
head of the ship to the rocks, and steers in a disadvanta- 
geous place, he unluckily stuck among the jutting rocks. 
The cliffs are shaken, and on a sharp reef the struggling 
oars were loudly snapped, and the prow dashed against 
[the rocks] stood suspended. The mariners arise together, 
and with great clamor desist ; and apply stakes shod with 
iron, and poles with sharpened points, and gather up their 
shattered oars on the stream. Meanwhile Mnestheus re- 
joiced, and more animated by this same success, with the 
nimble inarch of the oars, and winds called to his aid, cuts 
the easy waves, and scuds away on the open sea. As a pig- 
eon, whose nest and darling young are in some harboring 
rock, suddenly scared from her covert, flies away into the 
fields, and, starting in a fright, gives a loud flapping with 
her wings against the nest; then, shooting through the 
calm still air, skims along the liquid way, nor moves her 
noble pinions: thus Mnestheus, thus the Pristis herself in 
her career, cuts the utmost boundary of the watery plain ; 
thus the mere vehemence of her motion carries her for- 
ward in her flying course. And first she leaves behind her 
Sergestus struggling against the high rocks and scanty 
shallows, in vain imploring aid, and trying to row on with 
shattered oars. Then he overtakes Gyas, and Chimera's 
self of mighty bulk : she jdelds, because she is deprived of 
her pilot. And now, in the very end of the course, 
Cloanthus alone is before him: whom he endeavors to 
reach, and, straining with the utmost vigor, pursues. 
Then, indeed, the shouts redouble, and all, with hearty 
applauses, stimulate him 'in the pursuit, and the sky re- 
sounds with roaring acclamations. These are fired with 
indignation, lest they should lose their possession of glory 
and the honor they have won ; and they are willing to bar- 
ter life for renown. Those success cherishes; they are 
able because they seem to be able. And, perhaps, they had 
both gained the prize with equaled beaks, had not 
Cloanthus, stretching out his hands to the sea poured 
forth prayers and invoked the gods to his vows : Ye gods, 
to whom belongs the empire of the main, over whose seas I 
sail, I, bound by vow, will joyously present before your 
altars a snow-white bull on this shore. 



vergil's aeneid, book: v. 101' 

and cast forth the entrails on the briny wave [as an offering to 
you], and make a hbation of pure wine. He said: and the 
whole choir of the Nereids and Phorcus, and the virgin Pan- 
opea, heard him from the bottom of the waves ; and father 
Portunus himself, with his mighty hand, pushed on the 
galley in her course. She flies to land swifter than the 
south wind, and the winged arrow, and lodged herself in 
the harbor's deep recess. Then Anchises' son, having as- 
sembled all in form, proclaims Cloanthus conqueror, by the 
loud voice of the herald, and crowns his temples with 
verdant laurel ; allows him the choice of three bullocks as 
presents for the galleys, and gives him wine and a great 
talent ot silver to carry away. On the leaders themselves 
he confers peculiar honors : to the conqueror he presents a 
mantle embroidered with gold, round which a thick 
fringe of Melibean purj^le ran in a double maze and, where 
the royal boy [Ganymede] inwoven pursues, with darts and 
full career, the fleet stags on woody Ida, eager, seeming 
to pant for breath; whom Jove's swift armor-bearer, with 
his crooked talons, snatched aloft from Ida. The aged 
keepers in vain stretch out their hands to the stars, and the 
baying of the hounds rages to the skies. . 

To him who by his merit won the second place, he gives 
to wear a coat of mail, thick set with polished rings, and 
wrought in gold with a triple tissue, which he himself vic- 
torious had torn from Demoleus by rapid Simois under 
lofty Ilium : to be his ornament and defense in war. The 
servants, Phegeus and Sagaris, with united force, scarcely 
bore the cumbrous [armor] on their shoulders : but Demo- 
leus, formerly clad therein, used to chase before him the 
straggling Trojans. For the third present he bestows two 
caldrons of brass, and silver bowls of finished work, and 
rough with figures. And thus now all rewarded, and elated 
with their wealth, were moving along, having their tem- 
ples bound with scarlet fillets, when Sergestus brought up 
his hooted galley without honor, hardly with much art dis- 
entangled from the cruel rock, with the loss of her oars, 
and in one tier quite disabled. As often a serpent sur- 



108 VEllGIL^S AEHEIt), BOOK V. 

prised in the highway (which a brazen wheel hath gone 
athwart, or a traveler, coming heavy with a blow, hath 
left half dead and mangled by a stone), attempting in vain 
to flee, shoots his body in long wreaths ; in one part fierce, 
darting tire from his eyes, and rearing aloft his hissing 
neck; the other part, maimed with the wound, retards 
him, twisting [his body] in knots, and winding himself up 
on his own limbs: with such kind of steerage the ship 
slowly moved along : her sails, however, she expands, and 
enters the port with full sail. Aeneas gladly confers on 
Sergestus the promised reward for preserving the vessel, 
and bringing the crew safe back. To him is given a 
female slave, not unskillful in the works of Minerva, 
Pholoe, a Cretan by extraction, with her two children on 
the breast. 

This game being over, pious Aeneas advances to a grassy 
plain, which woods on winding hills inclosed around ; and 
in the mid valley was the circuit of a theater, whither the 
hero, in the midst of many thousands, repaired, and took a 
high seat. Here he offers inviting rewards to those who 
chanced to be inclined to enter the lists in the rapid race, 
and exhibits the prizes. The Trojans and Sicilians, in 
mingled throngs, convene from every quaj'ter ; Nisus and 
Euryalus the first: Euryalus, distinguished by his lovely 
form and blooming youth : Nisus, by his true affection for 
the boy: whom next Diores followed, a royal youth of 
Priam's illustrious line. After him Salius, and with him' 
Patron; of whom the one was an Arcarnanian, the other 
from Arcadia, of the blood of the Tegaean race. Next two 
Sicilian youths, Elymus and Panopes, trained to the 
woods, the companions of aged Acestes ; and many more 
besides, whom fame hath buried in obscurity. In the 
midst of whom thus Aeneas spoke : Mark these my words, 
and attend with joy: none of this throng shall go unre- 
warded by me. Two bright Gnosian darts of polished 
steel, and a carved battle-axe of silver, I will give [each 
man] to bear away. This honor shall be conferred equally 
on all. The first three shall receive prizes, and shall have 
their heads bound w^ith swarthy olive. 



Vergil's AEifEiD, book v. 109 

Let the first conqueror have a steed adorned with rich 
trappings ; the second an Amazonian quiver full of Thracian 
arrows, which a broad belt of gold around embraces, and 
a buckle clasps with a tapering gem: and let the third 
content himself with this Grecian helmet. 

When he had thus said, they take their respective places, 
and upon hearing the signal, start in a trice, and quit the 
barrier, darting forward like a tempest : at the same time 
they mark the goal. Nisus gets the start, and springs 
away far before the rest, outflying the winds and winged 
lightning. Next to him, but next by a long interval, fol- 
lows Salius : then after him Euryalus, with some space left 
[between them] ; and Helymus f ollow^s Euryalus ; close by 
whose side, lo! next Diores flies, and now jostles heel with 
heel, pressing on his shoulder; and, had more stages re- 
mained, he had skipped away before him, or left the vic- 
tory dubious. And now they were almost in the utmost 
bound, and, exhausted, were approaching toward the very 
goal ; when unhappy Nisus slides in a slippery puddle of 
blood, as by chance it had been shed on the ground from 
victims slain, and soaked the verdant grass. Here the 
youth, already flushed with the joy of victory, could not 
support his tottering steps on the ground he trod, but fell 
headlong amid the noisome filth and sacred gore. He, 
however, was not then forgetful of Euryalus, nor of their 
mutual affection ; for, as he rose from the slippery mire, he 
opposed himself to Salius: he again, tumbling backward, 
lay prostrate on the clammy sand. Euryalus springs for- 
ward, and victorious by the kindness of his friend, holds 
the foremost place, and flies with favoring applause and 
acclamation. Helymus comes in next; and Diores, now 
[entitled to] the third prize. Here Salius fills the whole 
assembly of the ample pit, and the front seats of the 
fathers, with loud outcries, and demands the prize to be 
given to himself, from whom it was snatched away by 
unfair means. The favor [of the spectators] befriends 
Euryalus, and his graceful tears, and merit that appears 
more lovely in a comely person. Diores aids him, and ex- 
claims with bawling voice ; 



110 YERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK V. 

who succeeded to a prize, and had a claim to the last 
reward in vain, if the first honors be given to 
Salius. Then father Aeneas said: Your rewards, 
youths, stand fixed, and none shall turn the prize 
out of its due course : give me leave to compassionate the 
disaster of my innocent friend. This said, he gives to 
Salius the huge hide of a Getulian lion, ponderous with 
shaggy fur and gilt claAvs. Upon this Nisus says, If to the 
vanquished such rewards be given, and your pity be ex- 
tended to those that fell, what gifts are due to Nisus? [to 
me,] who by my merit won the first prize, had not the same 
unkind fortune which bore Salius down overpowered me. 
And with these words he at the same time showed his face 
and limbs besmeared with oozy filth. The excellent father 
smiled on his plight, and ordered the buckler to be pro- 
duced, Didymaon's ingenious work, torn down by the 
Greeks from the sacred posts of Neptune's temple. With 
this signal present he rewards the illustrious youth. 

Next when the race was finished, and the prizes were dis- 
tributed: Now, [says he,] whoever he may be in whose 
breast courage and resolution dwell, let him stand forth, 
and raise aloft his arms, having his hands bound [with the 
cestus.] He said, and proposes a double prize for the 
combat : to the conqueror a bullock decked with gold and 
fillets; a sword and shining helm, the solace of the van- 
quished. Without delay, Dares shows his face with 
strength prodigious, and rears himself amid the loud mur- 
murs of the spectators; he who alone was wont to enter the 
lists with Paris: the same at the tomb where mighty 
Hector lies, struck down victorious Butes of mighty frame, 
who boasted his descent from the race of Amycus, king of 
Bebrycia, and stretched him gasping on the tawny sand. 
Such Dares uprears his lofty head first in the lists, and 
presents his broad shoulders, and in alternate throws 
brandishes his arms around, and beats the air with his 
fists. For him a match is sought; nor dares one of all that 
numerous crowd encounter him, and draw the gauntlets on 
his hands. Elated, therefore, and imagining that all had 
quitted pretension to the prize, he stood before Aeneas' feet: 
and then, without further delay, 



VERGIL*S AENEID, BOOK V. Ill 

with his left hand he seizes the bull by the horns, 
and thus speaks: Goddess-born, if no one will dare 
to trust himself to the combat, where will be the 
end of hanging on? how long must I be detained? 
Order the presents to be brought. At the same time 
all the Trojans murmured their consent, and ordered 
the promised prizes to be delivered to him. Then vener- 
able Acestes thus chides Entellus, as he sat beside him on 
the verdant grassy couch : Entellus, in vain [reputed] the 
stoutest of champions once, will you then suffer so great 
prizes to be carried off without any contest? Where is now 
that god of ours, Eryx, whom you in vain gave out to be 
your master? where is your fame through all Trinacria? 
where the spoils that used to hang from your roof? He to 
this immediately [replies] : It is not that my thirst of 
praise is gone, or my glory has departed, driven away by 
fear: but my frozen blood languishes through enfeebling 
age, and the strength worn out in my body is benumbed. 
Did I but now enjoy that youth which once I had, and 
wherein that varlet triumphs with vain confidence, (then 
would I have taken the field) : not indeed induced by 
the prize and the fair bullock, for I regard not rewards. 
Thus having spoken, he then throws into the midst a pair 
of gauntlets of huge weight; wherewith fierce Eryx was 
wont to engage in the fight, and to brace his arms with the 
stubborn hide. Amazement seized their minds. Seven 
huge thongs of such vast oxen lay stiffening with lead and 
iron sewed within. Above all Dares himself stands aghast, 
and utterly declines the combat : and the magnanimous son 
of Anchises this way and that way poises the weight and 
the complicated folds of the gauntlets. 

Then the aged champion thus spoke from his soul : What 
if any [of you] had seen the gauntlet and arms of Hercules 
himself, and the bloody combat on this very shore? These 
arms your brother Eryx formerly wore. You see them yet 
stained with blood and shattered brains. With these he 
stood against great Alcides ; with these I was wont [to com- 
bat], while better blood supplied me with strength, nor 
envious age as yet had scattered gray hairs over my tem- 
ples. But if Trojan Dares decline these our arms, 



11^ VERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK V. 

and if the pious Aeneas be so determined, and Acestes, who 
prompts me [to the fight], approve, let us be equally 
matched : To oblige you, I lay aside the weapons of Eryx ; 
dismiss your fears, and do you put off your Trojan gaunt- 
lets. This said, he flung from his shoulders his double vest, 
and bared his huge limbs, his big bones and sinewy arms, 
and stood forth of mightj^ frame in the middle of the field. 
Then the sire, sprung from Anchises, brought forth equal 
gauntlets, and bound both their hands with equal arms. 
Forthwith each on his tiptoes stood erect, and undaunted 
raised his arms aloft in the air. Far from the blow they 
backward withdrew their towering heads: now hand to 
hand they join in close encounter, and provoke the fight; 
the one having the advantage in agility of foot, and relying 
on his youth ; the other surpassing in limbs and bulk ; but 
his feeble knees sink under his trembling body : his difficult 
breathing shakes his vast frame. The heroes deal many 
blows to one another with erring aim, and many on the 
hollow sides redouble; from their breasts [the thumps] 
resound aloud, and round their ears and temples thick 
strokes at random fly ; their jaws crackle under the heavy 
blow. Entellus stands stiff and unmoved in the same firm 
posture, only with his body and watchful eyes evades the 
strokes. The other, as one who besieges a lofty city with 
batteries, or under arms besets a mountain fortress, ex- 
plores now these, now those approaches, and artfully 
traverses the whole ground, and pursues his attack with 
various assaults, still baffled. Entellus, rising on tiptoe, 
extended his right arm, and lifted it on high: the other 
nimbly foresaw the blow descending from above, and with 
agility of body shifting, slipped from under it. Entellus 
spent his strength on the wind ; and, both by the force of 
his own natural weight, and the violence of the motion, 
falls to the ground of himself Avith his heavy bulk; as 
sometimes, on Erymanthus or spacious Ida, a hollow pine 
torn from the roots tumbles down at once. The Trojan and 
Sicilian youth rise together with eager feelings : their accla- 
mations'^ pierce the skies ; and Acestes first advances in 
haste, and in pity raises from the ground his friend of 
equal age. But the hero, not disabled nor daunted by his 
fall, returns to the combat more fierce, and indignation 
rouses his spirit: 
14 



Vergil's aeneid, book v. 113 

then shame and conscious worth set all the powers 
of his soul on fire; and inflamed he drives Dares 
headlong over the whole plain, redoubling blows on 
blows, sometimes with the right hand, sometimes with the 
left. No stop, no stay : as thick showers of hail come rat- 
tling down on the housetops, so with thick repeated blows, 
the hero thumps Dares with each hand, and tosses him 
hither and thither. Then father Aeneas suffered not their 
fury longer to exert itself, nor Entellus to rage with such 
fierce animosity : but put an end to the combat, and rescued 
Dares quite overpowered, soothing him with words, and be- 
speaks him in these terms : Unhappy ! what strong infatua- 
tion possessed youl* mind? Are- you not sensible of [his 
having] foreign assistance, and that the gods have changed 
sides? Yield to the deity. He said, and by his word put an 
end to the combat. As for Dares, his trusty companions 
conduct him to the ships, dragging his feeble limbs, and 
tossing his head to either side, disgorging from his throat 
clotted, gore, and teeth mingled with his blood; and, at 
Aeneas' call, they take the helmet and sword, and leave the 
palm and bull to Entellus. At this the conqueror, in soul 
elated, and proud of the bull, says: Goddess-born, and ye 
Trojans, hence know both what strength I have had in 
my youthful limbs, and from what death you have saved 
Dares. He said, and stood against the front of the opposite 
bull that was set for the prize of the combat, and rearing 
himself up, with his right hand drawn back, leveled the 
cruel gauntlets directly between the horns, and, battering 
the skull, drove through the bones. Down drops the ox, 
and, in the pangs of death, falls sprawling to the ground. 
Over him he utters these words : This life, more acceptable, 
O Eryx, I give thee in exchange for Dares' death; here, 
victorious, I lay down the gauntlets with my art. 

Aeneas forthwith invites such as may be willing to try 
their skill with the swift arrow, and sets prizes ; and with 
his mighty hand raises a mast taken from Serestus' ship, 
and from the high mast hangs a fluttering dove by a rope 
thrust through at which they may aim their shafts. The 
competitors assemble- and a brazen helmet received the 



114 Vergil's aeneid, book v. 

shuffled lots. The lot of Hippocoon, the son of Hyrtacus, 
comes out first of all with favoring shouts ; whom follows 
Mnestheus, lately victor in the naval strife, Mnestheus, 
crowned with green olive. The third is Eurytion, the 
brother, illustrious Pandarus, of thee, who, once urged to 
violate the treaty, didst first hurl thy dart into the midst 
of the Greeks. Acestes remained the last, and in the bot- 
tom of the helmet; he too adventuring with his [aged] 
hand to essay the feats of youth. Then with stout force 
they bend their pliant bows, each man according to his 
ability, and draw forth their arrows from their quivers. 
And first the arrow of young Hyrtacus' son, shot through 
the sky from the whizzing string, cleaves the fleeting air, 
both reaches [the mark], and fixes in the wood of the oppo- 
site mast. The mast quivered; and the frighted bird, by 
its wings, showed signs of fear; and all quarters rang with 
loud applause. Next keen Mnestheus stood with his bow 
close drawn, aiming on high, and directed his eye and 
arrow both together. But it was his misfortune not to be 
able to hit the bird itself with his shaft; he burst the 
cords and hempen ligaments to which it hung tied by the 
foot from the high mast. She with winged speed shot 
into the air and dusky clouds. Then Eurytion in eager 
haste, having his arrow long before extended on the ready 
bow, poured forth a vow to his brother [Pandarus], as he 
now beheld the joyful dove in the void sky, and pierced 
her under a dark cloud as she was clapping her Avings. 
She dropped down dead, and left her life among the 
stars of heaven; and, falling to the ground, brings back 
the arrow fastened [in the wound]. Acestes alone re- 
mained after the prize was lost; who, notAvithstanding, 
discharged his shaft into the aerial region?, the sire 
displaying both his address and twanging bow. Here 
is unexpectedly presented to vicAv a prodigy, designed 
to be of high portent; this the important event after- 
ward declared, and the alarming . soothsayers predicted 
the omens late. For the arroAv, flying among the watery 
clouds, took fire, and Avith the flames marked out a path, 
till, being quite consumed, it A^anished into thin air; as 
often stars loosened from the firmament shoot across, and 



Vergil's aeneid, book v. 115 

flying draw [after them] a train of light. The Sicilians and 
Trojans stood fixed in astonishment, and besought the 
gods; nor does mighty Aeneas reject the omen, but, em- 
bracing Acestes overjoyed, loads him with ample rewards, 
and thus bespeaks him : Accept these, O sire, for the great 
king of heaven, by these omens, has signified his will, that 
you receive the honor [of the victory, though] out of 
course. This gift, which belonged to aged Anchises' self, 
you shall possess; a bowl embossed with figures, which 
Thracian Cisseus formerly gave for a magnificent present 
to my sire, as a monument and pledge of his love. This 
said, he crowns his temples with verdant laurel, and in 
view of all pronounces Acestes the first conqueror. Nor 
does good Eurytion envy him the preference in honor, 
though he alone struck down the bird from the exalted 
sky. He next comes in for a prize, who broke the cords ; 
the last is he who pierced the mast with his winged shaft. 

But father Aeneas, the games not being yet ended, calls 
to him the son of Epytus, young liilus' guardian and com- 
panion, and thus whispers in his trusty ear: Go quick, 
says he, desire Ascanius (if he has now gotten ready with 
him his company of boj^s, and has arranged the movements 
of the horses) to bring up his troops, and show himself in 
arms in honor of his grandsire. He himself orders the 
crowd to remove from the extended circus, and the field to 
be cleared. The boys advance in procession, and uniformly 
shine on the bridled steeds full in their paronts' sight; in 
admiration of whom, as they career along, the whole 
Trojan and Trinacrian youth join in acclamations. All in 
due form had their hair pressed with a trim garland. They 
bear two cornel spears pointed with steel; some have 
polished quivers on their shoulders. A pliant circle of 
wreathed gold goes from the upper part of their breasts 
about their necks. Three troops of horsemen, and three 
leaders, range over the plain: twelve striplings following 
each, shine in a separate body, and with commanders equally 
matched. There is one bana of youths which young Priam, 
bearing his grandsire's name, leads triumphant ; 



116 Vergil's aeneid, book v. 

thy illustrious offspring, O Polites, who shall one day do 
honor to the Italians, whom a Thracian courser bears, dap- 
pled with white spots ; the fetlocks of his foremost feet are 
white, and, tossing his head aloft, he displays a white front. 
The second is Atys, from whom the Atii of Eome have de- 
rived their origin ; little Atys, a boy beloved by the boy liilus. 
Last, and in beauty distinguished from all the rest, liilus 
rode on a Sidonian steed which fair Dido had given him as 
a monument and pledge of her love. The rest of the youths 
ride on the Trinacrian horses of aged Acestes. The Trojans 
with shouts of applause receive them anxious [for honor], 
and are well-pleased with the sight, and recognize the 
features of the aged sires. Now when the joyous j^ouths 
had paraded on horseback round the whole ring, and full in 
their parents' view, Epytus' son, from afar, gave a signal to 
them by a shout, as they stood ready, and clanked with 
the lash. They broke away in parted order, keeping the 
same front, and broke up the troops into separate bands by 
,threes; and again, upon summons given, they wheeled 
about, and bore their hostile spears [on one another.] Then 
they again advance, and again retreat in their opposite 
grounds, and alternately involve intricate circles within 
circles, and call up the representation of a fight in arms. 
And now flying they expose their defenseless backs ; now 
in hostile manner turn their darts [on each other] : now, 
peace being made up, they are borne along together. As of 
old in lofty Crete was a labyrinth famed for having had 
an alley formed by dark intricate walls, and a puzzling 
maze with a thousand avenues, where a [single] mistake, 
unobserved, but not to be retraced, frustrated the marks 
for guiding one on the way ; in just such course the sons of 
the Trojans involve their motions, and with intricate 
movement represent fighting and flying in sport; like 
dolphins, that, swimming through the watery deep, cut the 
Carpathian or Libyan Sea, and gambol amid the waves. 
This manner of tilting, and these mock fights, Ascanius 
first renewed, and taught the ancient Latins to celebrate, 
when he was inclosing Alba Longa with walls : as he him- 
self, when a boy, as the Trojan youth with him [had 
practiced them], so the Albans taught their posterity; 
hence, in after times, imperial Rome received them, 



Vergil's ae>?-eid, book v. 117 

and preserved the same in honor of her ancestors : and at 
this day it is called [the game of] Troy, and the boys [that 
perform itj, the Trojan band. Thus far the trials of skill 
were exhibited [by Aeneas in honor] of his sanctified sire. 

Here shifting Fortune, changing, first altered her faith. 
While they are celebrating the anniversary festival at the 
tomb with various games, Saturnian Juno dispatched Iris 
from heaven to the Trojan fleet, and w4th the fanning 
winds speeds her on her way, forming many plots, and 
having not yet glutted her old revenge. The virgin god- 
dess accelerating her way, seen by none, amid the bow 
with a thousand colors, shoots down the path with nimble 
motion. She descries the vast concourse ; then, surveying 
the shore, sees the port deserted, and the fleet deserted. 
But at a distance the Trojan dames apart were mourning the 
loss of Anchises on the desolate shore, and all of them with 
tears in their eyes viewed the deep ocean: Ah! that so 
many shoals, such a length of sea should still remain for us 
after all our toils! was the sole complaint of all. They 
pray for a city, are sick of enduring the hardships of the 
main. Therefore she, not un practiced in mischief, throws 
herself into the midst of them, and lays aside the mien and 
vesture of a goddess. She assumes the figure of Beroe, the 
aged wife of Tmarian Doryclus, who was of noble birth, 
and once had renown, and offspring. And thus she joins in 
discourse with the Trojan matrons : Ah ! unhappy we, who 
were not dragged forth to death in the war by the Grecian 
host under our native walls! Ill-fated race! for what mis- 
erable doom does fortune reserve you? The seventh sum- 
mer since the destruction of Troy is already rolled away, 
while we, having measured all lands and seas, so many 
inhospitable rocks and barbarous climes, are driven about : 
while along the wide ocean we pursue an ever-fieeing Italy, 
and are tossed on the waves. Here are the realms of his 
brother Eryx, and his friend Acestes: who prevents our 
founding walls, and giving our citizen a city? Ah, my 
country, and our gods in vain saved from the enemy ! shall 
a city never more arise to be named from Troy? Shall I 
never see the Hectorean rivers, Xanthus and Simois? Nay, 
rather come, and burn with me our cursed ships. For in 
my sleep the ghost of the prophetess Cassandra 



118 vekgil's aexeid, book v. 

seemed to present me with flaming brands : Here, says she, 
seek for Troy, here is your fixed residence. Now is the time 
for action. Nor let there be delay after such signs from 
heaven. Lo ! here are four altars to Neptune : the god him- 
self supplies us with fire-brands, and with courage [for the 
attempt]. With these words, she violently snatches the 
destroying fire, and, lifting up her right? hand with exerted 
force, waves it at a distance, throws it. Housed are the 
minds and stunned the hearts of the Trojan matrons. Then 
one of the number, Pyrgo, the most advanced in years, the 
royal nurse to Priam's numerous sons, [said] Matrons, this 
is not Beroe whom you have here, it is not she from Rhae- 
teum, the wife of Doryclus: mark the characters of divine 
beauty, eyes bright and sparkling; what breath, what 
looks; or the accents of her voice, or her gait as she 
moves. Myself lately, as I came hither, left Beroe sick, in 
great anguish that she alone was cut off from such a solem- 
nity, and was not to pay the honors due to Anchises. She 
said. 

But the matrons first began to view the ships with malig- 
nant eyes, dubious and wavering between their Avretched 
fondness for the present land, and the realms that sum- 
moned them by the Fates ; when on equal poised wings the 
goddess mounted into the sky, and in her flight cut the 
spacious bow beneath the clouds. Then, indeed, confounded 
at the prodigy, and driven by madness, they shriek out 
together, and snatch the flame from the inmost hearths. 
Some rifle the altars, and fling the boughs, and saplings, 
and brands together: the conflagration rages with loose 
reins amid the rowers' seats, and oars, and painted sterns 
of fir. Eumelus conveys the tidings to Anchises' tomb, 
and to the benches of the theater, that the ships were 
burned ; and they themselves behold the sparks of fire fly- 
ing up in a pitchy cloud. And first, Ascanius, as joj'ous 
he led the cavalcade, just as he was, with full speed rode 
up to the troubled camp ; nor was it in the power of his 
guardians, half-dead for fear, to check him. What strange 
frenzy this? whither, he cries, ah! my wretched country- 
women, whither would you now? It is not the enemy, 
or the hostile camp of the Greeks, but your own hopes ye 
burn. Here am I, your own 



Vergil's aeneid, book v. 119 

Ascanius. He threw at their feet the empty helmet, 
which he wore while calling forth the images of war 
in sport. At the same time Aeneas and the bands 
of the Trojans came up iri haste. But the matrons 
for fear flee different ways up and down the shore, 
and skulking repair to the woods and hollow rocks wher- 
ever there are any. They loathe the deed, the light, and 
penitent recognize their friends; and Juno is dislodged 
from their breasts. But the flames and conflagration did 
not therefore abate their ungovernable fury. The tow 
lives under the moistened boards disgorging languid 
smoke; the smothered fire gradually consumes the keel, 
and the contagious ruin spreads through the whole body of 
the vessel. Neither the efforts of the heroes, nor outpoured 
streams, avail. Then pious Aeneas tore his robe from his 
shoulders, and invoked the gods to his aid, and stretched 
out his hands : Almighty Jove, if thou dost not yet abhor 
all the Trojans to a man, if thy ancient goodness regards 
human disasters with commiseration, grant now, O father, 
that our fleet may escape from these flames, and save from 
desolation the humbled state of the Trojans. Or, to com- 
plete thy vengeance, hurl me down to the death with thy 
vindictive thunder, if I so deserve, and crush me here with 
thy right hand. Scarce had he spoken these words, when a 
black tempest of bursting rain rages with uncommon fury: 
both hills and valleys quake with thunder ; the shower in 
turbid rain, and condensed into pitchy darkness by the 
thick-beating south winds, pours down from the whole 
atmosphere. The ships are filled from above; the half- 
burned boards are drenched, till the whole smoke is extin- 
guished, and all the ships, with the loss of four, are saved 
from the pest. 

But father Aeneas, struck with the bitter misfortune, 
turned his anxious thoughts now this way, now that, pon- 
dering with himself whether he should settle in the terri- 
tories of Sicily, regardless of the Fates, or steer his course 
to the Italian coast. Then aged Nautes, Avhom above 
others Tritonian Pallas^ taught, and rendered illustrious 
for deep science, gave forth these responses, what either 
the great displeasure of the gods portended, or what the 
series of the Fates required. And thus, solacing Aeneas, 
he begins: 



120 Vergil's aekeid, book v. 

Goddess-born, let us follow the Fates, whether they 
invite us backward or forward: come what will, every 
fortune is to be surmounted by patience. You have Trojan 
Acestes of divine origin: admit him the partner of your 
counsels, and unite yourself to him your willing friend: 
to him deliver such as are over, now that you have lost 
some ships; choose out those who are s'ick of the great 
enterprise, and of your fortunes; the old with length of 
years oppressed, and the matrons fatigued with the 
voyage ; select the feeble part of your company, and such 
as dread the danger, and, since they are tired out, let them 
have a settlement in these territories : they shall call the 
city Acesta by a licensed name. 

Then indeed Aeneas, fired by these words of his aged 
friend, is distracted in his mind amid a thousand cares. 
Now sable Night, mounted on her chariot with two horses, 
held the skies, when the form of his father Anchises, gUd- 
ing down from the skies, suddenly seemed to pour forth 
these words: Son, once dearer to m.e than life, while life 
remained; my son, severely tried by the fates of Troy; 
hither I come by the command of Jove, who averted the 
fire from your fleet, and at length showed pity from the 
high heaven. Comply with the excellent counsel which 
aged Nautes now offers : carry with you to Italy the choice 
of the youths, the stoutest hearts. In Latium you have to 
subdue a hardy race, rugged in manners. But first, my 
son, visit Pluto's infernal mansions, and, in quest of an 
interview with me, cross the deep fioods of Avernus: for 
not accursed Tartarus, nor the dreary ghosts, have me in 
their possession : but I inhabit the delightful seats of the 
blest, and Elysium. Hither the chaste Sibyl shall conduct 
thee after shedding profusely the blood of black victims. 
Then you shall learn your whole progeny, and what walls 
are assigned to you. And now farewell: humid Night 
wheels about her mid course, and the dawning light, which 
fiercely summons me away, hath breathed upon me with 
panting steeds. He said ; and vanished like smoke into the 
fleeting air. Whither so precipitant? says then Aeneas; 
Avhither dost thou whirl away? whom fleest thou? or who 
debars me from my embraces? So saying, he awakes the 
embers and dormant fire, and suppliant pays veneration to 
his Trojan domestic god, and the shrine of hoary Vesta, 
with a holy cake and full censer. 
15 



VIRQIL^S AENEID, BOOK V. 1^1 

Forthwith he calls his followers, and first of all Acestes, 
and informs them of Jove's command, and the instructions 
of his beloved sire, and of the present settled purpose of 
his soul. No obstruction is given to his plans; nor is 
Acestes averse to the proposals made. They enroll the 
matrons for the city, and set on shore as many of the 
people as were willing, souls that had no desire of high 
renown. Themselves renew the benches, and repair the 
timbers half consumed by the flames ; fit oars and cables to 
the ships ; in number small, but of animated valor for war. 
Meanwhile Aeneas marked out a city with the plow, and 
assigns the houses by lot : here he orders a [second] Ilium 
to arise, and these places to be called after those of Troy. 
Trojan Acestes rejoices in his kingdom ; institutes a court 
of justice; and having assembled his senators, dispenses 
laws. Then on the top of Mount Eryx a temple approach- 
ing the stars is raised to Idalian Venus ; and a priest is 
assigned to the tomb of Anchises, with a grove hallowed 
far and wide. And now the whole people had kept the 
festival for nine days, and sacrifices had been offered on 
the altars, peaceful breezes have smoothed the seas, and the 
south wind in repeated gales invites into the deep. Loud 
lamentations along the winding shores arise: in mutual 
embraces they linger out both night and day. Even the 
matrons, and those to whom the face of the sea lately 
seemed horrid, and its divinity intolerably severe, would 
willingly go, and submit to all the toil of the voyage; 
whom good Aeneas solaces in friendly terms, and, weeping 
commends to his kinsman Acestes. Then he orders to 
sacrifice to Eryx three calves, and a female lamb to the 
tempests, and to weigh anchor after the due rites were 
performed. He himself, having his head bound with a 
trim garland of olive leaves, standing on the extremity of 
the prow, holds the cup, and casts forth the entrails on the 
briny waves, and pours the limpid wine. A wind arising 
from the stern accompanies them in their course. The 
crew, with emulous vigor, lash the sea and brush its 
smooth surface. 

Meanwhile Venus, harassed with cares, addresses Nep- 
tune, 



122 VERGIL^S AENElD, BOOK V. 

and pours, forth these complaints from her breast. 
The heavy resentment and insatiable passion of Juno 
compel me, O Neptune, to descend to all entreaties ; Juno, 
whom neither length of time or any piety softens; and 
who is not quelled and subdued even by Jove's imperial 
sway, or by the Fates. It is not enough for her to have 
effaced the city from among the Phrygian race by her 
unhallowed hate, nOr to have dragged the relics of Troy 
through all sorts of suffering ; she persecutes the ashes and 
bones of the ruined city. The causes of such furious resent- 
ment are to her best known. Yourself can witness for me 
what a heaving tempest she suddenly raised of late on the 
Libyan waves. The whole sea she blended in confusion 
with the sky, vainly relying on Aeolus' storms; this 
presuming [even] in your realms. Lo also (0 wickedness !) 
bj^ acting upon the Trojan matrons, she hath shamefully 
burned the ships, and forced their friends, now that they 
have lost their fleet, to abandon them in an unknown land. 
As to what remains, may they be allowed, I pray, to sail 
over the Avaves secure by thy protection: may they be 
allowed to reach Laurentian Tiber; if I ask -what maybe 
granted, if the Destinies assign those settlements. Then 
the Saturnian ruler of the deep ocean thus replied: 
Cytherea, it is perfectly just that you confide in my 
realms, whence you derive your birth: besides, I have a 
just claim ; [for] often have I checked the furious rage and 
maddening tumult of sea and sky. Nor was I less careful 
of your Aeneas on earth (I call Xanthus and Simois to 
witness). When Achilles, pursuing the breathless troops 
of Troy, dashed them against their walls, gave many 
thousands to death, and the choked rivers groaned, and 
Xanthus could not find his way, nor disembogue himself 
into the sea; then in a hollow cloud I snatched away 
Aeneas, while encountering the mighty Achilles with 
strength and gods unequal; though I was desirous of 
overthrowing from the lowest foundation the walls of 
perjured Troj^, reared by my hands. And still I am of the 
same disposition: banish your fear; he shall arrive safe 
at the port of A vermis, which you desire. One only, 
lost in the deep, shall he seek for: one life shall be given 
for many. The sire, having by these words soothed 
and cheered the heart of the goddess, 



VERGIL*S AENEID, BOOK V. 123 

yokes his steeds to his golden car, puts the foaming bit into 
their fierce mouths, and throws out all the reins. Along the 
surface of the seas he nimbly glides in his azure car. The 
waves subside, and the swelling ocean smooths its liquid 
pavement under the thundering axle : the clouds ily off the 
face of the expanded sky. Then [appear] the various 
forms of his retinue, unwieldy whales, and the aged train 
of Glaucus, and Palemon, Ino's son, the swift Tritons, and 
the whole band of Phorcus. On the left are Thetis, Melite, 
and the virgin Panopse, Neseee, Spio, Thalia, and Cymodoce. 

Upon this, soft joys in their turn diffuse themselves 
through the anxious soul of father Aeneas. Forthwith he 
orders all the masts to be set up, and the yards to be 
stretched along the sails. At once they all tacked together, 
and together let go somethnes the left-hand sheets, some- 
times the right : at once they turn and turn back the lofty 
end of the sail yards : friendly gales waft the fleet forward. 
Palinurus, the master-pilot, led the closely united squadron ; 
toward him the rest were ordered to steer their course. 
And now the dewy night had almost reached the middle 
of her course ; the weary sailors, stretched along the hard 
benches under the oars, relaxed their limbs in peaceful 
repose; when the god of sleep, gently gliding down from 
the ethereal stars, parted the dusky air, and dispelled 
the shades; to you, O Palinurus, directing his course, 
visiting you, though innocent, with dismal dreams: and 
the god took his seat on the lofty stern, in the similitude of 
Phorbas, and poured forth these words from his lips: 
Palinurus, son of lasius, the seas themselves carry forward 
the fleet ; the gales blow fair and steady, the hour for rest 
is given. Kecline your head, and steal your weary eyes 
from labor. Myself awhile will discharge your duty. To 
whom Palinurus, with difficulty lifting up his eyes, answers : 
Do you then bid me be a stranger to the aspect of the calm 
sea and its quiet waves? Shall I confide in this extraordi- 
nary apparition? Why should I trust Aeneas to the mercy 
of the fallacious winds, after having been so often deceived 
by the treacherous aspect of a serene sky? These words he 
uttered, while fixed and clinging he did not part with the 



134 VERGlL^S AENEID, BOOK V. 

rudder, and held his eyes directed to the stars ; when, lo ! 
the god shakes over both his temples a branch drenched in 
the dew of Lethe, and impregnated with soporific Stygian 
influence; and, while he is struggling against sleep, dis- 
solves his swimming eyes. Scarcely had unexpected 
slumber begun to relax his limbs, when (the god) leaning 
on him, with part of the stern broken off, together with the 
helm, plunged him headlong into the limpid waves, often 
calling on his friends in vain : he himself (Somnus) taking 
flight, raised himself on his wings aloft into the thin air. 
Meanwhile, the fleet runs its watery course on the plain 
with equal security, and fearless is conducted by father 
Neptune's promises. And now wafted forward, it was 
even coming up to the rocks of the Sirens, once of difficult 
access, and white with the bones of many (at that time the 
hoarse rocks resounded far by the continual buffeting of 
the briny waves) ; when father Aeneas perceived the 
fluctuating galley to reel, having lost its pilot ; and he him- 
self steered her through the darkened waves, deeply 
affected and wounded in his soul for the misfortune of his 
friend. Ah, Palinurus [says he], who has too much con- 
fided in the fair aspect of the skies and sea ! naked wilt 
thou lie on unknown sands ! 



BOOK SIXTH. 

SYNOPSIS. 
THE VISION OF THE UNDER WORLD. 

In this book we have an account of the descent of Aeneas 
into the infernal regions. Having arrived in Italy, he at 
once goes to the cave of the Sibyl, w^here he learns what 
difficulties were in store for him before settling peacefully 
in Italy. Having consulted her about his intended de- 
scent, and being informed of the danger of the under- 
taking, he was told that he must first obtain a golden bough 
from a certain tree sacred to Hecate. He is then informed 
that one of his friends lies dead upon the shore, and is di- 
rected to perform funeral rites for him, and afterward come 
and offer sacrifice. Eeturning to his companions, he finds 
Misesus dead. 

Having found the golden bough, and going to the Sibyl, 
he is conducted by her to the under world. As they pass 
along, she describes to him the various scenes in those re- 
gions, showing him the several apartments, in one of which 
he sees Dido. While he attempts to address her, she turns 
from him in proud disdain. He advances until he reaches 
the residence of his father; who explains to him the teach- 
ings of Pythagoras in regard to the transmigration of souls, 
and shows what an illustrious race of heroes should descend 
from him. 

He then returns to the upper regions through the ivory 
gate and revisits his companions. 



THE 

AENEID 

or 
P. VERGILIUS MARO. 



BOOK VL 



Thus he speaks with tears, and gives his ship full sail, 
and at length he reaches the Euhoean coast of Cumae. 
They turn their prows out to the sea : then the anchor with 
its tenacious fluke moored the ships, and the bending sterns 
fringe the margin of the shore. The youthful crew spring 
forth with ardor on the Hesperian strand: some seek for 
the seeds of fire latent in the veins of flint ; some plunder 
the copses, the close retreat of wild beasts, and point out 
rivers newly discovered. But the pious Aeneas repairs to 
the towers over which Apollo presides on high, and to the 
spacious cave, the cell of the Sibyl awful at a distance; 
into whom the prophetic god of Delos breathes an enlarged 
mind and spirit, and discloses to her the future. Now they 
enter Diana's groves, and [Apollo's] golden roofs. 

Daedalus, as is famed, fleeing the realms of Minos, adven- 
turing to trust himself to the sky on nimble wings, sailed 
through an untried path to the cold regions of the north, 
and at length gently alighted on the tower of Chalcis. Hav- 
ing landed first on those coasts, to thee, O Phoebus, he con- 
secrated the oarage of his wings, and reared a spacious 
temple. On the gates the death of Androgeos [was repre- 
sented] : then the Athenians, doomed, as an atonement (a 
piteous case !) to pay yearly the bodies of their children by 
sevens : there stands the urn whence the lots were drawn. 



VERGIL^S AEN"E1D, BOOK VI. 127 

In counterview answers the land of Gnosus raised above 
sea; here is the cruel love of the bull, and Pasiphae sub- 
stituted by stealth, and the mingled breed and double issue 
of the Minotaur, monuments of execrable lust. Here [are 
seen] the labored work of the Labyrinth, and the inextric- 
able mazes. But Daedalus, pitying the violent love of queen 
[Ariadne], unravels [to Theseus] the intricacies and wind- 
ings'of the structure, himself guiding his dark mazy steps 
by a thread. You too, O Icarus, should have borne a con- 
siderable part in that great work, had [thy father's] grief 
permitted. Twice he essayed to figure the disastrous story 
in gold ; twice the parent's hand misgave him. And now 
[the Trojans] would survey the whole work in order, w^ere 
not Achates, who had been sent on. just at hand, and with 
him the priestess of Phoebus and Diana, Deiphobe, Glaucus' 
daughter, who thus bespeaks the king : This hour requires 
not such amusements. At present it will be more suitable 
to sacrifice seven bullocks from a herd unyoked, and as 
many chosen ewes, with usual rites. The priestess having 
thus addressed Aeneas (nor are they backward to obey her 
sacred orders), calls the Trojans into the lofty temple. 

The huge side of an Euboean rock is cut into a cave, 
whither a hundred broad avenues lead, a hundred doors ; 
whence rush forth as many voices, the responses of the Sibyl. 
They had come to the threshold, when thus the virgin 
exclaims : Now is the time to consult your fate : the god, lo 
the god ! While thus before the gate she speaks, on a sud- 
den her looks change, her color comes and goes, her locks 
are disheveled, her breast heaves, and her fierce heart 
swells with enthusiastic rage; she appears in a larger 
form, her voice speaking her not a mortal, now that she is 
inspired with the nearer influence of the god. Do you 
delay, Trojan Aeneas, she says, do you delay with thy 
vows and prayers? [Instantly begin]: for not till then 
shall the ample gates of this awe-stricken mansion unfold 
to the view. And having thus said, she ceased. Chill 
horror ran thrilling cold through the bones of the Trojans ; 
and their king poured forth these prayers from the bottom 
of his heart : 

Apollo, who hast ever pitied the troubles of Troy, who 
guidedst the Trojan darts and the hand of Paris 



128 Vergil's aekeid, book vi. 

to the body of Achilles ; under thy conduct I have entered so 
many seas encompassing countries, and the Massylian na- 
tions far remote, and regions vast stretched in front by the 
Syrtes. Now, at length, we grasp the coast of Italy that flees 
from us. Let it suffice that the fortune of Troy has perse- 
cuted us thus far. Now it is just that you too spare the 
Trojan race, ye gods and goddesses, all, to whom Ilium and 
the high renown of Dardania were obnoxious. And thou, 
too, most holy prophetess, skilled in futurity, grant (I ask 
no realms but what are destined to me by fate) that the 
Trojans, their wandering gods, and the persecuted deities 
of Troy, may settle in Latium. Then will I appoint to 
Phoebus and Diana a temple of solid marble, and festal days, 
called by the name of Apollo. Thee too a spacious sanctuary 
awaits in our realms ; for there, benignant one, I will deposit 
thy oracles, and the secret fates declared to my nation, and 
will consecrate chosen men. Only commit not thy verses 
to leaves, lest they fly about in disorder, the sport of the 
rapid winds : I beg you yourself will pronounce them. He 
ended his address. 



But the prophetess, as yet not suffering the influence of 
Phoebus, raves with Avild outrage in the cave, struggling if 
possible to disburden her soul of the mighty god : so much 
the more he wearies her foaming hps, subduing her fero- 
cious heart, and, by bearing down her opposition, molds her 
to this will. And now the hundred spacious gates of the 
abode were opened of their own accord, and pour forth the 
responses of the prophetess into the open air: O thou who 
hast at length overpassed the vast perils of the ocean ! yet 
more afflicting trials by land await thee. The Trojans 
shall come to the realms of Lavinium (dismiss that concern 
from thy breast), but they shall wish too they had never 
come. Wars, horrid wars, I foresee, and Tiber foaming 
with a deluge of blood. Nor Simois nor Xanthus, nor 
Grecian camps, shall be wanting to you there. Another 
Achilles is prepared in Latium: he too the son of a god- 
dess. Nor shall Juno, added to the Trojans [as their 
scourge], leave them w^herever they are; while in your 
distress, which of the Italian states, which of its cities, 
shall you not humbly supplicate for aid? Once more shall 
a consort, a hostess, once more shall a foreign match, be 
the cause of so great calamity to the Trojans. 
16 



Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 129 

Yield not under your sufferings, but encounter them with 
greater boldness than your fortune shall permit. What you 
least expect, your first means of deliverance shall be un- 
folded from a Grecian city. 

Thus from her holy cell the Cumaean Sibyl delivers her 
mysterious oracles, and, wrapping up truth in obscurity, 
bellows in her cave; Such reins Apollo shakes over her 
as she rages, and deep in her breast he plies the goads. 
As soon as her fury ceased, and her raving tongue was 
silent, the hero Aeneas begins: To me, O virgin, no shape 
of sufferings can arise new or unexpected; I have antici- 
pated all things, and acted them over beforehand in my 
mind. My sole request is (since here the gate of the infer- 
nal king is said to be, and the darksome lake [formed] from 
the overflowing Acheron), that it may be my lot to come 
into the sight and presence of my dear father; that you 
would show the way, and open to me the sacred portals. 
On these shoulders I rescued him, through flames and a 
thousand darts pursuing, and saved him from the midst of 
the enemy. He accompanied my path, attended me in all 
my voyages, and, though infirm, bore all the terrors both 
of the sea and sky, beyond the power and condition of old 
age. Nay more, he it was who earnestly requested and 
enjoined me to come to thee a suppliant, and visit thy tem- 
ple. Benignant one, pity, I pray, the son and the sire ; for 
thou canst do all things; nor hath Hecate in vain given 
thee charge of the Avernian groves. If Orpheus had 
power to recall his consort's ghost, reljang on his Thracian 
harp and harmonious strings; if Pollux redeemed his 
brother by alternate death, and goes and comes this way so 
often : [I hope I may also be allowed to go and return :] why 
need I mention Theseus, or great Alcides? I too derive my 
birth from Jove supreme. 

In such terms he prayed, and held the altar, when thus 
the prophetess began to speak : Offspring of the gods, thou 
Trojan son of Anchises, easy is the path that leads down to 
hell ; grim Pluto's gate stands open night and day ; but to 
retrace one's steps, and escape to the upper regions, this is 
a work, this is a task. A few, whom favoring Jove loved. 



130 VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK VI. 

or illustrious virtue advanced to heaven, the sons of 
the gods, have effected it. Woods cover all the intervening 
space, and Cocytus gliding with his black winding flood 
surrounds it. But if your soul be possessed with so strong 
a passion, so ardent a desire, twice to swim the Stygian 
lake, twice to visit a gloomy Tartarus, and you will needs 
fondly pursue the desperate enterprise, learn what first is 
to be done. On a tree of deep shade there lies concealed a 
bough, with leaves and limber twigs of gold, pronounced 
sacred to infernal Juno ; this the whole grove covers, and 
shades in dark valleys inclose. But to none is it given to 
enter the hidden recesses of the earth, till from the tree he 
pluck the bough with its golden locks. Fair Proserpine 
hath ordained this to be presented to her as her peculiar 
present. When the first is torn off, a second of gold soon 
succeeds; and a twig shoots forth leaves of the Same 
metal. Therefore, search out for it on high with thine 
eyes, and, when found, pluck it with the hand in a proper 
manner ; for, if the Fates invite you, itself will come away 
willing and easy ; otherwise, you will not be able to master 
it by any strength, or to lop it off by the stubborn steel. 
Besides, the body of your friend lies breathless (whereof 
you, alas! are not aware), and pollutes the whole fleet with 
death, while you are seeking counsel, and hang lingering 
at my gate. First convey him to his place of rest, and 
bury him in the grave. Bring black cattle ; let these first 
be the sa(;rifices of expiation. So at length you shall have 
a view of the Stygian groves, realms inaccessible to the liv- 
ing. She said, and closing her lips, was silent. 

Aeneas, his eyes fixed on the ground with sorrowing looks, 
takes his way, leaving the cave, and muses the dark event 
in his mind; whom faithful Achates accompanies, and 
steps on with equal concern. Many doubts they started 
between them in the variety of their conversation; who 
was the lifeless friend designed by the prophetess, what 
corpse was to be interred. And as they came, they saw 
Misenus on the dry beach, slain by an unworthy death; 
Misenus, son of Aeolus, whom none excelled in rousing 
warriors by the brazen trump, and kindling the rage of 
war by its blast. 



VEKGIL'S AENEil), ]}00K VI. 131 

He had been the companion of great Hector, and about 
Hector he fought, distinguished both for the clarion and 
spear. After victorious Achilles had bereaved Hector of 
life, the valiant hero associated with Dardanian Aeneas, 
following no inferior chief. But, at that time, while 
madly presumptuous he makes the seas resound with 
his hollow trump, and with bold notes challenges 
the gods to a trial of skill, Triton, jealous (if the 
story be worthy of credit,) having inveigled him between 
two rocks, had overwhelmed him in the foaming billows. 
Therefore all m.urmured their lamentations around him 
with loud noise, especially pious Aeneas; then forthwith 
weeping they set about the Sibyl's orders, and are emulous 
to heap up the altar of the funeral pile with trees, and 
raise it toward heaven. They repair to an ancient wood, 
the deep lairs of the savage kind : down drop the firs : the 
holm crashes, felled by the axes ; and the ashen logs and 
yielding oak are cleft by wedges ; down from the moun- 
tains they roll the huge wild ashes. Aeneas, too, chief 
amid these labors, animates his followers, and is equipped 
with like implements. Meanwhile, he thus ruminates in his 
distressed breast, surveying the spacious wood, and thus 
prays aloud : O if that golden branch on the tree now pre- 
sents itself to our view amid this ample forest ; since, Mise- 
nus, all that the prophetess declared of thee is true, alas ! too 
true. Scarcely had he spoken these words, when it chanced 
that two pigeons, in their airy flight, came directly into the 
hero's view, and alighted on the verdant ground. Then the 
mighty hero knows his mother's birds, and rejoicing, 
prays : Oh ! be the guides of the way, if any way there is, 
and steer your course through the air into the groves, 
where the precious branch overshades the fertile soil. And 
thou, my goddess-mother, oh be not wanting to me in this 
my perplexity! Thus having said, he paused, observing 
what indications they offer, whither they bend their way. 
They, feeding and flying by turns, advanced before only as 
far as the eyes of the followers could trace them with their 
ken. Then, having come to the mouth of noisome Avernus, 
they mount up swiftly, and, gliding through the clear air, 



133 Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 

both alight on the wished-for place, on that tree from 
whence the gleam of the gold, of different hue, shone 
through the boughs. As in the woods the mistletoe, which 
springs not from the tree from whence it grows, is wont to 
bloom with new leaves in the cold of winter, and to twine 
around the tapering trunk with its j-ellow offspring; such 
was the appearance of the gold sprouting forth on the 
shady holm : in like manner the metallic leaf tinkled with 
the gentle gale. Forthwith Aeneas grasps, and eagerly 
tears off the lingering branch, and bears it to the grotto of 
the proplietic Sibyl. 

Meanwhile the Trojans were no less assiduously em- 
ployed in mourning Misenus on the shore, and in paying 
the last duties to his senseless ashes. First, they rear a 
large pile unctuous with pines and split oak, whose sides 
they interweave with black boughs, and place m the front 
deadly cypresses, and deck it above with glittering arms. 
Some get ready warm water, and caldrons bubbling from 
the flames; and wash and anoint his cold limbs. The 
groan is raised: they then lay the bewailed body on a 
couch, and throw over it the purple robes, his wonted 
apparel. Others bore up the cumbrous bier, a mournful 
oflSce ; and Avith their faces turned aAvay, after the manner 
of their ancestors, under it they held the torch. Amassed 
together, blaze offerings of incense, viands, whole goblets 
of oil poured [on the pile]. After the ashes had sunk down, 
and the flames relented, they drenched the relics and soak- 
ing embers in wine ; and Chorinaeus inclosed the collected 
bones in a brazen urn. Thrice too he made the circuit of 
the company Avith holy water, sprinkling them aa ith the 
light spray, and a branch of the prolific olive: and he 
purified them and pronounced the last farewell. But pious 
Aeneas erects a spacious tomb for the hero. Avith his arms 
upon it, and an oar and trumpet, beneath a lofty mountain, 
which now from him is called Misenus, and retains a name 
eternal through ages. 

This done, he speedily executes the Sibjd's injunctions. 
There was a cave profound and hideous with wide yawning 
mouth. 



Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 133 

stony, fenced by a black lake, and the gloom of woods; 
over which none of the flying kind were able to wing 
their way unhurt: such exhalations, issuing from its 
grim jaws, ascended to the vaulted skies: [for which 
reason the Greeks called the place by the name of the 
Aornus.] Here first the priestess places four bullocks, 
with backs of swarthy hue, and pours wine on their fore- 
heads, and cropping the topmost hairs between the horns, 
lays them on the sacred flames as the first offerings, by 
voice invoking Hecate, whose power extends both to 
heaven and hell. Others employ the knives, and receive 
the tepid blood in bowls. Aeneas himself smites with his 
sword a ewe-lamb of sable fleece in honor of the mother of 
the Furies, and her great sister, and in honor of thee, 
Proserpina, a barren heifer. Then he sets about the noc- 
turnal sacrifices to the Stygian king, and lays on the 
flames the solid carcasses of bulls, pouring fat oil on the 
broiling entrails. Lo now, at the early beams and ris- 
ing of the sun, the ground beneath their feet began to 
rumble, the wooded heights to quake, and dogs were seen 
to howl through the shade of the woods, at the approach 
of the goddess. Hence, far hence, O ye profane exclaims 
the prophetess, and begone from all the grove ; and do you, 
Aeneas, boldly march forward, and snatch your sword 
from its sheath: now is the time for fortitude, now for 
firmness of resolution. This said, slie raving plunged into 
the open cave. He, with intrepid steps, keeps close by 
his guide as she leads the way. 

Ye gods, to whom the empire of ghosts belong, and ye 
silent shades, and Chaos, and Phlegethon, places where 
silence reigns around in night! permit me to utter the 
secrets I have heard; may I by your divine will disclose 
things buried in deep earth and darkness. 

They moved along amid the gloom under the solitary 
night through the shade, and through the desolate halls and 
empty realms of Pluto ; such as is a journey in woods be- 
neath the unsteady moon, under a faint, glimmering light, 
when Jupiter hath wrapped the heavens in shade, and 
sable night hath stripped objects of color. 



134 VERGIL'S AE.NEID, BOOK VI. 

Before the vestibule itself, and in the first jaws of hell, Grief 
and vengeful Cares have placed their couches, and pale Dis- 
eases dwell, and disconsolate Old Age, and Fear, and 
the evil counselor Famine, and vile deformed Indi- 
gence, forms ghastly to the sight! and Death, and Toil; 
then Sleep, akin to Death, and criminal Joys of the mind ; 
and in the opposite threshold murderous War, and the 
iron bed-chambers of the Furies, and frantic Discord, 
having her viperous locks bound with bloody fillets. 

In the midst a gloomy elm displays its boughs and aged 
arms, which seat vain Dreams are commonly said to haunt, 
and under every leaf they dwell. Many monstrous savages 
moreover, of various forms, stable in the gates, the Cen- 
taurs and double-formed Scyllas, and Briareus with his 
hundred hands, and the enormous snake of Lerna hissing 
dreadful, and Chimaera armed with flames; Gorgons, 
Harpies, and the form of (Geryon's) three-bodied ghost. 
Here Aeneas, disconcerted with sudden fear, grasps his 
sword, and presents the naked point to each approaching 
shade: and had not his skillful guide put him in mind 
that they were airy unbodied phantoms, fluttering about 
under an empty form, he had rushed in, and with his 
sword struck at the ghosts in vain. 

Hence is a path, which leads to the floods of Tartarean 
Acheron: here a gulf turbid boils up with mire and vast 
whirlpools, and disgorges all its sand into Cocytus. A 
grim ferryman guards these floods and rivers, Charon, of 
frightful slovenliness; on whose chin a load of gray hair 
neglected lies ; his eyes are flame : his vestments hang from 
his shoulders by a knot, Avith filth overgrown. Himself 
thrusts on the barge with a pole, and tends the sails, and 
wafts over the bodies in his iron-colored boat, now in years : 
but the god is of fresh and green old age. Hither the whole 
tribe in swarms come pouring to the banks, matrons and 
men, the souls of magnanimous heroes who had gone 
through life, boys and unmarried maids, 



vekgil's aekeid, book VI. 135 

and young men who had been stretched on the funeral pile 
before the eyes of their parents ; as numerous as withered 
leaves fall in the woods with the first cold of autumn, or as 
numerous as birds flock to the land from deep ocean, when 
the chilling year drives them beyond sea, and sends them to 
sunny climes. They stood praying to cross the flood the first, 
and were stretching forth their hands with fond desire to 
gain the further bank : but the sullen boatman admits some- 
times these, sometimes those: while others to a great dis- 
tance removed, he debars from the banks. Aeneas (for 
he was amazed and moved with the tumult) thus speaks : 
O virgin, say what means that flocking to the river? what 
do the ghosts desire? or by what distinction must these 
recede from the banks, those sweep with oars the livid 
flood? To him the aged priestess thus briefly replied: 
Son of Anchises, undoubted offspring of the gods, you see 
the deep pools of Cocytus, and the Stygian lake, by whose 
divinity the gods dread to . swear and violate [their 
oath]. All that crowd which you see, consists of naked 
and unburied persons; that ferryman is Charon: these, 
whom the stream carries are interred; for it is not per- 
mitted to transport them over the horrid banks, and hoarse 
waves, before their bones are quietly lodged in a final 
abode. They wander a hundred years, and flutter about 
these shores: then at length admitted, they visit the 
wished-for lakes. The offspring of Anchises paused and re- 
pressed his steps, deeply musing, and pitying from his soul 
their unkind lot. There he espies Leucaspis, and Orontes, 
the commander of the Lycian fleet, mournful, and bereaved 
of the honors of the dead : whom as they sailed from Troy, 
over the stormy seas, the south wind sunk together, 
whelming both ship and crew in the waves. 

Lo! the pilot Palinurus slowly advanced, who lately 
in his Libyan voyage, while he was observing the stars, 
had fallen from the stern, plunged in the midst of the 
waves. When with difficulty, by reason of the thick 
shade, Aeneas knew him in this mournful mood, he thus 
first accosts him: What god, O Palinurus, snatched you 
from us, and overwhelmed you in the middle of the 
ocean? Come tell me. For Apollo, whom I never before 
found false, 



136 Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 

in this one response deceived my mind, declaring that 
you should be safe on the sea, and arrive at the 
Ausonain coasts: Is this the amount of his plighted faith? 
But he [answers] : Neither the oracle of Phoebus beguiled 
you, prince of the line of Anchises, nor a god plunged me 
in the sea ; for, falling headlong, I drew along with me the 
helm, which I chanced with great violence to tear away, as 
I clung to it, and steered our course, being appointed pilot. 
By the rough seas I swear, that I was not so seriously 
apprehensive for myself, as that thy ship, despoiled of her 
rudder, dispossessed of her pilot, might sink while such high 
billows were rising. The south wind drove me violently 
on the water over the spacious sea, three wintry nights: 
on the fourth day I descried Italy from the high ridge of a 
wave [whereon I was] raised aloft. I was swimming grad- 
ually toward land, and should have been out of danger, 
had not the cruel people fallen upon me with the sword 
(encumbered with my wet. garment, and grasping with 
crooked hands the rugged tops of a mountain), and igno- 
rantly taking me for a rich prey. Now the waves possess 
me, and the winds toss me about the shore. But by the 
pleasant light of heaven, and by the vital air, by him 
who gave thee birth, by the hope of rising liilus, I thee 
implore, invincible one, release me from these woes : either 
throw on me some earth (for thou canst do so) ; and seek 
out the Veline port ; or, if there be any means, if thy god- 
dess mother point out any (for thou dost not, I presume, 
without the will of the gods, attempt to cross such mighty 
rivers and the Stygian lake), lend your hand to an un- 
happy wretch and bear me with you over the waves, that 
in death at least I may rest in peaceful seats. Thus he 
spoke, when thus the prophetess began: Whence, O 
Palinurus, rises in thee this so impious desire? Shall 
you unburied behold the Stygian floods, and the grim 
river of the Furies, or reach the bank against the com- 
mand [of heaven]? Cease to hope that the decrees of 
the gods are to be altered by prayers; but mindful take 
these predictions as the solace of your hard fate. For the 
neighboring people compelled by portentous plagues from 
heaven, shall through their several cities far and wide 
offer atonement to thy ashes, erect a tomb, and stated 
anniversary offerings on that tomb present; 
17 



VERGIL^S AEKEID, BOOK VI. 137 

and the place shall forever retain the name of Palinurus. 
By these words his cares were removed, and grief was for a 
time banished from his disconsolate heart ; he rejoices in 
the land that is to bear his name. 

They therefore accomplish their journey begun, and 
approach the river: whom when the boatman soon from 
the Stygian wave beheld advancing through the silent 
grove, and stepping forward to the bank, thus he first 
accosts them in words, and chides them unprovoked: 
Whoever thou may est be, who art now advancing armed to 
our rivers, say quick for what end thou comest ; and from 
that very spot repress thy step. This is the region of 
Grhosts, of Sleep, and drowsy Night: to waft over the 
bodies of the living in my Stygian boat is not permitted. 
Nor indeed was it joy to me that I received the son of 
Alceus on the lake when he came or Theseus and Pirithous, 
though they were the offspring of the gods, and invincible 
in might. One with his hand put the keeper of Tartarus 
in chains, and dragged him trembling from the throne of 
our king himself ; the others attempted to carry off our 
queen from Pluto's bed-chamber. In answer to which, the 
Amphrysian prophetess briefly spoke: No such plots are 
here, be not disturbed, nor do these weapons bring vio- 
lence: the huge porter maj^ bay in his den forever, 
terrifying the incorporeal shades: chaste Proserpine may 
remain in her uncle's palace. Trojan Aeneas, illustri- 
ous for piety and arms, descends to the deep shades 
of Erebus to his sire. If the image of such piety 
makes no impression on you, own a regard at least to 
this branch (she shows the branch that was concealed 
under her robe). Then his heart from swelling rage is 
stilled : nor passed more words than these. He with won- 
der gazing on the hallowed present of the fatal branch, 
beheld after a long season, turns toward them his lead- 
colored barge, and approaches the bank. Thence he dis- 
lodges the other souls that sat on the long benches, and 
clears the hatches ; at the same time, receives into the hold 
the mighty Aeneas. The boat of sewn hide groaned under 
the weight, and, being leaky, took in much water from the 
lake. At length he lands the hero and prophetess safe on 
the other side of the river, on the foul slimy strand and 
sea-green weed. 



138 Vergil's aekeid, book vi. 

Huge Cerberus makes these realms to resound with 
barking from his triple jaws, stretched at his enormous 
length in a den that fronts the gate. To whom the 
prophetess, seeing his neck now bristle with horrid 
snakes, flings a soporific cake of honey and medicated 
grain. He, in the mad rage of hunger, opening his three 
mouths, snatches the offered morsel, and, spread on the 
ground, relaxes his monstrous limbs, and is extended at 
vast length over all the cave. Aeneas, now that the 
keeper [of hell] is buried [in sleep], seizes the passage, and 
swift overpasses the bank of that flood whence there is no 
return. 

Forthwith are heard voices, loud wailings, and weeping 
ghosts of infants, in the first opening of the gate: whom, 
bereaved of sweet life out of the course of nature, and 
snatched from the breast, a black day cut off, and buried 
in an untimely grave. Next to those, are such as had been 
condemned to death by false accusations. Nor yet were 
those seats assigned them without a trial, without a judge. 
Minos, as inquisitor, shakes the urn: he convokes the 
council of the silent, and examines their lives and crimes. 

The next places in order those mournful ones possess, 
who, though free from crime, procured death to them- 
selves with their own hands, and, sick of the light, threw 
away their lives. How gladly would they now endure 
poverty and painful toils in the upper regions! Fate 
opposes, and the hateful lake imprisons them with its 
dreary waves, and Styx, nine times rolling between, con- 
fines them. 

Not far from this part, extended on every side, are 
shown the fields of mourning: so they called them by 
name. Here by-paths remote conceal, and myrtle-groves 
cover those around, whom unrelenting love, with his cruel 
venom, consumed away. Their cares leave them not in 
death itself. In these places he sees Phaedra and Procris, 
and disconsolate Eriphyle pointing to the wounds she had 
received from her cruel son; Evadne also, and Pasiphae: 
these Laodamia accompanies, and Caeneus, once a youth, 
now a woman, and again by fate transformed into his 
pristine shape. Among whom Phoenician Dido, fresh from 
her wound, was wandering in a spacious wood ; whom as 
soon as the Trojan hero 



Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 139 

approached, and discovered faintly through the shades 
(in hke manner as one sees, or thinks he sees, the moon 
rising through the clouds in the beginning of her 
monthly course), he dropped tears, and addressed her 
in love's sweet accents : Hapless Dido, was it then a true 
report I had of your being dead, and that you had finished 
your own destiny by the sword? Was I, alas! the cause of 
your death? I swear by the stars, by the powers above, 
and by whatever faith may be under the deep earth, that 
against my will, O queen, I departed from thy coast. But 
the mandates of the gods, which now compel me to travel 
through these shades, through noisome dreary regions and 
deep night, drove me from you by their authority; nor 
could I believe that I should bring upon you such deep 
anguish by my departure. Stay your steps, and withdraw 
not thyself from my sight. Whom dost thou flee? This 
is the last time fate allows me to address you. With 
these words Aeneas thought to soothe her, inflamed, 
and eying him with stern regard, and provoked his tears 
to flow. She, turned away, kept her eyes fixed on the 
ground ; nor alters her looks more, in consequence of the 
conversation he had begun, than if she were fixed immov- 
able like a stubborn flint or rock of Parian marble. At 
length, she abruptly retired, and in detestation fled into a 
shady grove, where Sichaeus, her first lord, answers her 
with [amorous] cares, and returns her love for love. 
Aeneas, nevertheless, in commotion for her disastrous fate, 
with weeping eyes, pursues her far, and pities her as she 
goes. 

Hence he holds on his destined way ; and now they had 
reached the last fields, which by themselves apart re- 
nowned warriors frequent. Here Tydeus appears to him, 
here Par then opoeus illustrious in arms, and the ghost of 
pale Adrastus. Here [appear] those Trojans who had died 
in the field of battle, much lamented in the upper world : 
whom when he beheld all together in a numerous body, he 
inwardly groaned; Glaucus, Medon, Thersilochus, the 
three sons of Antenor, and Polybaetes devoted to Ceres, 
and Idaeus still handling his chariot, still his armor. The 
ghosts in crowds around him stand on the right and left : 
nor are they satisfied with seeing him once ; they wish to 
detain him long. 



140 VERGIL*S AEKEID, BOOK VI. 

to come into close conference with him, and learn 
the reasons of his visit. But as soon as the Gre- 
cian chiefs and Agamemnon's battalions saw the hero, 
and his arms gleaming through the shades, they quaked 
with dire dismay : some turned their backs, as when they 
fled once to their ships; some raise their slender voices; 
the scream begun dies in their gasping throats. 

And here he espies Deiphobus, the son of Priam, man- 
gled in every limb, his face and both his hands cruelly 
torn, his temples bereft of the ears cropped off, and his 
nostrils slit with a hideously deformed wound. Thus he 
hardly knew him quaking for agitation, and seeking to hide 
the marks of his dreadful punishment ; and he first accosts 
him with well-known accents : Deiphobus, great in arms, 
sprung from Teucer's noble blood, who could choose 
to inflict such cruelties? Or who was allowed to exer- 
cise such power over you? To me, in that last night, 
a report was brought that you, tired with the vast 
slaughter of the Greeks, had fallen at last on a heap 
of mingled carcasses. Then, with my own hands, I 
raised to you an empty tomb on the Rhoetean shore, and 
thrice with loud voice I invoked your maneSj. Your name 
and arms possess the place. Your body, my rriend, I could 
not find, or, at my departure, deposit in thy native land. 
And upon this the son of Priam said : Nothing, my friend, 
has been omitted by you ; you have discharged every duty 
to Deiphobus, and to the shadow of a corpse. But my own 
fate, and the cursed wickedness of Helen, plunged me in 
these woes: she hath left me these monuments [of her 
love]. For how we passed that last night amid ill-grounded 
joys you know, and must remember but too well, when 
the fatal horse came bounding over our lofty walls, and 
pregnant brought armed infantry in its womb. She, pre- 
tending a dance, led her train of Phrygian matrons yelling 
around the orgies : herself in the midst held a large flam- 
ing torch, and called to the Greeks from the lofty tower. 
I, being at that time oppressed with care, and overpowered 
with sleep, was lodged in my unfortunate bed-chamber: 
rest, balmy, profound, and the perfect image of a calm, 
peaceful death, pressed me as I lay. Meanwhile my in- 
comparable spouse removes all arms from my palace, 



VERGIL'S AEN^EID, BOOK VI. 141 

and had withdrawn my trusty sword from my head : she calls 
Menelaus into the palace, and throws open the gates ; hop- 
ing, no doubt, that would be a mighty favor to her amor- 
ous husband, and that thus the infamy of her former 
wicked deeds might be extinguished. In short, they burst 
into my chamber: that traitor of the race of Aeolus, the 
promoter of villainy, is joined in company with them. Ye 
gods, requite these cruelties to the Greeks, if I supplicate 
vengeance with pious lips! But come now, in thy turn, 
say what adventure hath brought thee hither alive. Dost 
thou come driven by the casualities of the main, or by the 
direction of the gods? or what fortune compels thee to visit 
these dreary mansions, troubled regions, where the sun 
never shines? In this conversation the sun in his rosy 
chariot had now passed the meridian in his ethereal course ; 
and they perhaps would in this manner have passed the 
whole time assigned them ; but the Sibyl, his companion, put 
him in mind, and thus briefly spoke: Aeneas, the night 
comes on apace, while we waste the hours in lamentations. 
This is the place where the path divides itself in two : the 
right is what leads beneath great Pluto's walls ; by this our 
way to Elysium lies: but the left carries on the punish- 
ments of the wicked, and conveys to cursed Tartarus. On 
the other hand, Deiphobus [said] : Be not incensed, great 
priestess ; I shall be gone; I will fill up the number [of the 
ghosts] and be rendered back to darkness. Go, go, thou 
glory of our nation; mayest thou find fates more kind! 
This only he spoke, and at the word turned his steps. 

Aeneas on a sudden looks back, and under a rock on the 
left sees vast prisons inclosed with a triple wall, which Tar- 
tarean Phlegethon's rapid flood environs with torrents of 
flame, and whirls roaring rocks along. Fronting is a huge 
gate, with columns of solid adamant, that no strength of 
men, nor the gods themselves, can with steel demolish. 
An iron tower rises aloft; and there wakeful Tisiphone, 
with her bloody robe tucked up around her, sits to watch 
the vestibule both night and day. Hence groans are heard ; 
the cruel lashes resound ; the grating too of iron, and clank 
of dragging chains. Aeneas stopped short, and starting 
hstened to the din. 



142 Vergil's aeneId, book vt. 

What scenes of guilt are these? O virgin, say; or 
with what pains are they chastised? what hideous 
yeUing [ascends] to the skies! Then thus the pro- 
phetess began: Renowned leader of the Trojans, no holy 
person is allowed to tread the accursed threshold: but 
Hecate when she set me over the groves of Avernus, her- 
self taught me the punishments appointed by the gods, 
and led me through every part. Cretan Rhadamanthus 
possesses these most ruthless realms; examines and pun- 
ishes frauds ; and forces every one to confess what crimes 
committed in the upper world he had left [unatoned] till 
the late hour of death, hugging himself in secret crime of 
no avail. Forthwith avenging Tisiphone, armed with her 
whip, scourges the guilty with cruel insult, and in her left 
hand shaking over them her grim snakes, calls the fierce 
troops of her sister Furies. Then at length the accursed 
gates, grating on their dreadful-sounding hinges, are 
thrown open. See you what kind of watch sits in thie 
entry? what figure guards the gate? An overgrown Hydra, 
more fell [than any Fury], with fifty black gaping mouths, 
has her seat within. Then Tartarus itself sinks deep down, 
and extends towards the shades twice as far as is the 
prospect upward to the ethereal throne of heaven. Here 
Earth's ancient progeny, the Titanian youth, hurled down 
with thunderbolts, welter in the profound abyss. Here 
too I saw the two sons of Aloeus. gigantic bodies, who 
attempted with their might to overturn the spacious 
heavens, and thrust down Jove from his exalted kingdom. 
Salmoneus likewise I beheld suffering severe punishment, 
for having imitated Jove's flaming bolts, and the sounds 
of heaven. He, drawn in his chariot by four horses, and 
brandishing a torch," rode triumphant among the nations 
of Greece^ and in the«midst of the city Elis, and claimed 
to himself the honor of the gods: infatuate' who, with 
brazen car, and the prancing of his horn-hoofed steeds, 
would fain counterfeit the storms and inimitable thunder. 
But the almighty Sire amid the thick clouds threw 
a bolt (not firebrands he, nor smoky light from torches), 
and hurled him down headlong in a vast whirlwind. 
Here too you might have seen Tityus. the foster-child 
of all-bearing Earth: whose body is' extended over nine 



Vergil's aekeid, book vi. 143 

whole acres; and a huge vulture, with her hooked beak, 
pecking at his immortal liver, and his bowels, the fruitful 
source of punishment, both searches them for her banquet, 
and dwells in the deep recesses of his breast ; nor is any 
respite given to his fibers still springing up afresh. Why- 
should I mention the Lapithae, Ixion, and Pirithous, 
over whom hangs a black flinty rock, every moment threat- 
ening to tumble down, and seeming to be actually falling? 
Golden pillars [supporting] lofty genial couches shine, and 
full in their view are banquets furnished out with regal 
magnifience; the chief of the Furies sits by them, and 
debars them from touching the provisions with their hands ; 
and starts up, lifting her torch on high, and thunders over 
them with her voice. Here are those who, while life 
remained, had been at enmity with their brothers, had 
beaten a parent, or wrought deceit against a client ; or who 
alone brooded over their acquired wealth, nor assigned a 
portion to their own; which class is the most numerous: 
those too who were slain for adultery, who joined in im- 
pious wars, and did not scruple to violate the faith they 
had plighted to their masters: shut up, they await their 
punishment. But what kind of punishment seek not to be 
informed, in what shape [of misery], or in what state they 
are involved. Some roll a huge stone, and hang fast bound 
to the spokes of wheels. There sits, and to eternity shall 
sit, the unhappy Theseus : and Phlegyas most wretched is 
a monitor to all, and with loud voice proclaims through 
the shades: "Warned [by example], learn righteousness, 
and not to contemn the gods." One sold his country for 
gold, and imposed on it a domineering tyrant; made and 
unmade laws for money. Another invaded his daughter's 
bed, and an unlawful wedlock: all of them dared some 
heinous crime, and accomplished what they dared. Had I 
a hundred tongues, and a hundred mouths, a voice of iron, 
I could not comprehend all the species of their crimes, nor 
enumerate the names of all their punishments. 

When the aged priestess of Phoebus had uttered these 
words, she adds. But come now, set forward, and finish the 
task you have undertaken ; let us haste on : I see the walls 
[of Pluto], wrought in the forges of the Cyclopes, and the 
gates with their arch full in our view, where our instruc- 
tions enjoin us to deposit this our offering. 



144 VERGIL^S AEI^EtD, BOOK Yl. 

She said; and with equal pace advancing through the 
gloomy path, they speedily traverse the intermediate 
jspace, and approach the gates. Aeneas springs forward 
to the entry, sprinkles liis body with fresh water, and fixes 
the bough in the fronting portal. 

Having finished these rites, and performed the offering 
to the goddess, they came at length to the regions of joy, 
delightful green retreats and blessed abodes in groves, 
where happiness abounds. A freer sky here clothes the 
fields with sheeny light : they know their own sun, their 
own stars. Some exercise their limbs on the grassy green, 
in sports contend, and wrestle on the tawny sand: some 
strike the ground with their feet in the dance, and sing 
hymns. [Orpheus,] too the Thracian priest, in his long 
robe, replies in melodious numbers to the seven distinguished 
notes, and now strikes the same with his fingers, now with 
his ivory quill. Here may be seen Teucer's ancient race, a 
most illustrious line, magnanimous heroes, born in hap- 
pier times, Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus, the founder of 
Troy. From afar, [Aeneas] views with wonder the arms 
and empty chariots of the chiefs. Their spears stand fixed 
in the ground, and up and down their horses feed at large 
through the plain. The same fondness they had when 
alive for chariots and arms, the same concern for training 
up shining steeds, follow them when deposited beneath the 
earth. Lo ! he beholds others on the right and left feasting 
upon the grass, and singing the joyful paean to Apollo in 
concert, amid a fragrant grove of laurel ; whence from on 
high the river Eridanus rolls in copious streams through the 
wood. Here is a band of those who sustained wounds in 
fighting for their country; priests who preserved them- 
selves pure and holy, while life remained ; pious poets, who 
sung in strains worthy of Apollo ; those who improved 
life by the invention of arts, and who by their worthy 
deeds made others remember them: all these have their 
temples encircled with a snow-white fillet. Whom, gath- 
ered around, the Sibyl thus addressed, Musaeus chiefly ; for 
a numerous crowd had him in their center, and looked up 
with reverence to him raised above them by the height of 
his shoulders: 



Vergil's aeneid, book yi. 145 

Say, blessed souls, and thou, best of poets, what region, 
what place contains Anchises? on his account we have 
come, and crossed the great rivers of hell. And thus 
the hero briefly returned her an answer: None of us 
have a fixed abode; in shady groves we dwell, or lie on 
couches all along the banks, and on meadows fresh with 
rivulets : but do you, if so your heart's inclination leads, 
overpass this eminence, and I will set you in the easy path. 
He said, and advanced his steps on before, and shows them 
from a rising ground the shining plains. Then they de- 
scend from the summit of the mountain. 

But father Anchises, deep in a verdant dale, was survey- 
ing with studious care the souls there inclosed, who were 
to revisit the light above ; and happened to be reviewing 
the whole number of his race, his dear descendants, their 
fates and fortunes, their manners and achievements. 
As soon as he beheld Aeneas advancing toward him 
across the meads, he joyfully stretched out both his 
hands, and tears poured down his cheeks, and these 
words dropped from his mouth: Are j^ou come at 
length; and has that piety, experienced by your sire, 
surmounted the arduous journej^? Am I permitted, my 
son, to see thy face, to hear and return the well-knoAvn 
accents? So indeed I concluded in my mind, and reck- 
oned it would happen, computing the time; nor have 
my anxious hopes deceived me. Over what lands, O 
son, and over what immense seas have you, I hear, been 
tossed! with what dangers harassed! how I dreaded lest 
you had sustained harm from Libya's realms! But he 
[said]. Your ghost, your sorrowing ghost, my sire often- 
times appearing, compelled me to set forward to these 
thresholds. My fleet is moored in the Tyrrhene Sea. Per- 
mit me, father, to join my right hand [with thine] ; and 
withdraw not thyself from my embrace. So saying, he at 
the same time bedewed his cheeks with a flood of tears. 
There thrice he attempted to throw his arms around his 
neck; thrice the phantom, grasped in vain, escaped his 
hold, like the fleet gales, or resembling a fugitive dream. 

Meanwhile Aeneas sees in the retired vale, a grove situ- 



146 VERGIL^S AENEID, BOOK VI. 

ate by itself, shrubs rustling in the woods, and the river 
Lethe which glides by those peaceful dwellings. Around 
this unnumbered tribes and nations of ghosts were flutter- 
ing; as in meadows on a serene summer's day, when the 
bees sit on the various blossoms, and swarm around the 
snow-white lilies, all the plain buzzes with their humming 
noise. Aeneas, confounded, shudders at the unnexpected 
sight, and asks the causes, what are those rivers in the 
distance, or what ghosts have in such crowds fiilled the 
banks? Then father Anchises [said]. Those souls, for 
whom other bodies are destined by fate, at the stream of 
Lethe's flood quaff care-expelling draughts and lasting obli- 
vion. Long indeed have I wished to give you a detail of 
these, and to point them out before you, and enumerate 
this my future race, that you may rejoice the more with 
me in the discovery of Italy. O father, is it to be imagined 
that any souls of an exalted nature will go hence to the 
world above, and enter again into inactive bodies? What 
direful love of the light possesses the miserable beings? I, 
indeed, replies Anchises, will inform you, my son, nor hold 
you longer in suspense : and thus he unfolds each particu- 
lar in order. 

In the first place, the spirit within nourishes the heavens, 
the earth, and watery plains, the moon's enlightened orb, 
and the Titanian stars ; and the mind, diffused through all 
the members, actuates the whole frame, and mingles with 
the vast body [of the universe]. Thence the race of men 
and beasts, the vital principles of the flying kind, and the 
monsters which the ocean breeds under its smooth plain. 
These principles have the active force of fire, and a 
heavenly origin, so far as they are not clogged by noxious 
bodies, blunted by earth-born limbs and dying members. 
Hence they fear and desire, grieve and rejoice; and shut 
up in darkness and a gloomy prison, lose sight of their na- 
tive skies. Even when with the last beams of light their 
life is gone, yet not every ill, nor all corporeal stains, are 
quite removed from the unhappy beings ; and it is. abso- 
lutely necessary that many imperfections which have long 
been joined to the soul, should be in marvelous ways in- 
creased and riveted therein. 



Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 147 

Therefore are they afflicted with punishments, and 
pay the penalties of their former ills. Some, hung 
on high, are spread out to the empty winds; in others, 
the guilt not done away is washed out in a vast 
watery abyss, or burned away in fire. We each endure 
his own manes, thence are we conveyed along the 
spacious Elysium, and we, the happy few, possess the 
fields of bliss ; till length of time, after the fixed period is 
elapsed, hath done away the inherent stain, and hath left 
the pure celestial reason, and the fiery energy of the simple 
spirit. All these, after they have rolled aw^ay a thousand 
years, are summoned forth by the god in a great body to 
the river Lethe ; to the intent that, losing memory [of the 
past], they may revisit the vaulted realms above, and again 
become willing to return into bodies. 

Anchises had spoken, and leads his son, together with 
the Sibyl, into the midst of the assembly and noisy throng; 
thence chooses arising ground, whence he may survey them 
all as they .stand opposite to him in a long row, and discern 
their looks as they approach. 

Now come, I will explain to you what glory shall hence- 
forth attend the Trojan race, what descendants await them 
of the Italian nation, distinguished souls, and who shall 
succeed to our name ; yourself too I will instruct in your 
particular fate. See you that youth who leans on his point- 
less spear? He by destiny holds a station nearest to the 
light ; he shall ascend to the upper world the first [of your 
race] who shall have a mixture of Italian blood in his veins, 
Sylvius, an Alban na.me, your last issue; whom late your 
consort Lavinia shall in the woods bring forth to you in 
your advanced age, himself a king, and the father of kings ; 
in whom our line shall reign over Alba Longa. The next 
is Procas, the glory of the Trojan nation ; then Capys and 
Numitor follow, and Aeneas Sylvius, who shall represent 
thee in name, equally distinguished for piety and arms, if 
ever he receive the crown of Alba. See what youths are 
these, what manly force they show ! and bear their temples 
shaded with civic oak ; these to thy honor shall build No- 
mentum, Gabii, and the city Fidena; 



148 Vergil's AEKEiD, book vi. 

these on the mountains shall raise the Collatine towers, Po- 
metii, the Fort of Inuus, Bola, and Cora. These shall then be 
famous names ; now they are lands without names. Further, 
martial Romulus, whom Ilia of the line Assaracus shall bear, 
shall add himself as companion to his grandsire [NumitorJ. 
See you not how the double plumes stand on his head erect, 
and how the father of the gods himself already marks him 
out with his distinguished honors ! Lo, my son, under his 
auspicious influence Rome, that city of renown, shall meas- 
ure her dominion by the earth, and her valor by the skies, 
and that one city shall for herself wall around seven strong 
hills, happy in a race of heroes ; like mother Berecynthia, 
when, crowned with turrets, she rides in her chariot 
through the Phrygian towns, joyful in a progeny of gods, 
embracing a hundred grandchildren, all inhabitants of 
heaven, all seated in the high celestial abodes. This way 
now bend both your eyes; view this lineage, and your own 
Romans. This is Caesar, and these are the whole race of 
liilus, who shall one day rise to the spacious axle of the 
sky. This, this is the man whom you have often heard 
promised to you, Augustus Caesar, the offspring of a god ; 
who once more shall establish the golden age in Latium, 
through those lands where Saturn reigned of old, and shall 
extend his empire over the Garamantes and Indians : their 
land lies without the signs [of the zodiac], beyond the sun's 
annual course, where Atlas, supporting heaven on his 
shoulders, turns the axle studded with flaming stars. 
Against his approach even now both the Caspian realms 
and the land about the Palus Maeotis are dreadfully dis- 
mayed at the responses of the gods, and the quaking 
mouths of seven-fold Nile hurry on their troubled waves. 
Even Hercules did not run over so many countries, 
though he transfixed the brazen footed hind, quelled the 
forests of Erymanthus, and made Lerna tremble with his 
bow: nor Bacchus, who in triumph drives his car with 
reins wrapped about with vine leaves, driving the tigers 
from Nyssa's lofty top. And doubt we yet to extend our 
glory by our deeds? or is fear a bar to our settling in the 
Ausonian land? But who is he at a distance, distinguished 
by the olive boughs, bearing the sacred utensils? I know 
the locks and hoary beard of the Roman king, who first shall 



vekgil's aekeid, book VI, 149 

establish this city by laws, sent from little Cures and a poor 
estate to vast empire. Whom Tullus shall next succeed, who 
shall break the peace of his country, and rouse to arms 
his inactive subjects, and troops now unused to triumphs. 
Whom follows next vain-glorious Ancus, even now too 
much rejoicing in the breath of popular applause. Will 
you also see the Tarquin kings, and the haughty soul of 
Brutus, the avenger [of his country's wrongs], and the re- 
covered fasces? He first shall receive the consular power, 
and the axe of justice inflexibly severe ; and the sire shall, 
for the sake of glorious liberty, summon to death his own 
sons, raising an unknown kind of war. Unhappy he ! how- 
ever posterity shall interpret that action, love to his coun- 
try, and the unbounded desire of praise, will [prevail over 
paternal affection.] See besides at some distance the Decii, 
Drusi, Torquatus, inflexibly severe with the axe. and Camil- 
lus recovering the standards. But those [two] ghosts whom 
you observe to shine in equal arms, in perfect friendship 
now, and while they remain shut up in night, ah! what 
war, what battles and havoc will they between them raise, 
if once they have attained to the light of life ! the father-in- 
law descending from the Alpine hills, and the tower of 
Monoecus ; the son-in-law furnished with the troops of the 
east to oppose him. Make not, my sons, make not such 
[unnatural] wars familiar to your minds; nor turn the 
powerful strength of your country against its bowels. And 
thou [Caesar], first forbear, thou who derivest thy origin 
from heaven ; fling those arms out of thy hand, O thou, my 
own blood! That one, having triumphed over Corinth, 
shall drive his chariot victorious to the lofty Capitol, illus- 
trious from the slaughter of Greeks. The other shall over- 
throw Argos, and Mycenae, Agamemnon's seat, and the 
Aeacid's own heir himself, the descendant of valorous 
Achilles; avenging his Trojan ancestors, and the violated 
temple of Minerva. Who can in silence pass over thee, 
great Cato, or thee, Cossus? w^ho the family of Gracchus, 
or both the Scipios, those two thunderbolts of war, the 
bane of Africa, and Fabricius potent in poverty? or thee, 
Serranus, sowing in the furrow [which thy own hands had 
made]? Whither, ye Fabii, do you hurry me tired? Thou 
art that [Fabius justly styled] the Greatest, who alone shall 
repair our state by delay. 



150 VERGIL'S AENEID, BOOK VI. 

Others, I grant indeed, shall with more delicacy mold the 
breathing brass; from marble draw the features to the life; 
plead causes better; describe with the rod the courses of 
the heavens, and explain the rising stars: to rule the 
nations with imperial sway be thy care, Roman; these 
shall be thy arts; to impose terms of peace, to spare 
the humbled, and crush the proud. 



Thus father Anchises, and, as they are wondering, sub- 
joins: Behold how adorned with triumphal spoils Marcel- 
lus stalks along, and shines victor above the heroes all? He, 
mounted on his steed, shall prop the Roman state in the 
rage of a formidable insurrection; the Carthaginians he 
shall humble, and the rebellious Gaul, and dedicate to 
father Quirinus the third spoils. And upon this Aeneas 
[says] ; for he beheld marching with him a youth distin- 
guished by his beauty and shining arms, but his counte- 
nance of little joy, and his eyes sunk and dejected : What 
youth is he, O father, who thus accompanies the hero as 
he walks? is he a son, or one of the illustrious line of his 
descendants? What bustling noise of attendants round 
him ! How great resemblance in him [to the other] ! but 
sable Night with her dreary shade hovers around his head. 
Then father Anchises, while tears gushed forth, began: 
Seek not, my son, [to know] the deep disaster of thy kindred ; 
him the Fates shall just show on earth, nor suffer long 
to exist. Ye gods, Rome's sons had seemed too powerful 
in your eyes, had these your gifts been permanent. What 
groans of heroes shall that field near the imperial city of 
Mars send forth ! what funeral pomp shall you, O Tiberinus, 
see, when you glide by his recent tomb ! Neither shall any 
youth of the Trojan line in hope exalt the Latin fathers so 
high ; nor shall the land of Romulus ever glory so much in 
any of her sons. Ah piety ! ah that faith of ancient times ! 
and that right hand invincible in war ! none with impunity 
had encountered him in arms, either when on foot he 
rushed upon the foe, or when he pierced with his spUr his 
foaming courser's flanks. Ah youth, meet subject for 
pity ! if by any means thou canst burst rigorous fate, thou 
shalt be a Marcellus. Give me lilies in handfuls; let me 



Vergil's aeneid, book vi. 151 

strew the blooming flowers ; these offerings at least let me 
heap upon my descendant's shade, and discharge this un- 
availing duty. Thus up and down they roam through all 
the [Elysian] regions in spacious airy fields, and survey 
every object: through each of whom when Anchises had 
conducted his son, and fired his soul with the love of com- 
ing fame, he next recounts to the hero what wars he must 
hereafter wage, informs him of the Laurentine people, and 
of the city of Latinus, and by what means he may shun or 
surmount every toil. 

Two gates there are of Sleep, whereof the one is said to 
be of horn ; by which an easy egress is given to true vis- 
ions; the other shining, wrought of white ivory; but 
[through it] the infernal gods sent up false dreams to the 
upper world. When Anchises had addressed this discourse 
to his son and the Sibyl together, and dismissed them by 
the ivory gate, the hero speeds his way to the ships, and 
revisits his friends ; then steers directly along the coast for 
the port of Caieta: where [when he had arrived], the an- 
chor is thrown out from the forecastle, the sterns rest upon 
the shore. 




^A--.^4^ 



